According to the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ),
Ahmad Mohamed Mahmoud, a journalist for state-owned Egyptian newspaper Al-Ta'awun has died from gunshot wounds
sustained Jan. 28. He was said to have been the victim of sniper fire as he
filmed a confrontation between security forces and demonstrators in Cairo.
CPJ came out with a list Friday of 10 additional incidents,
brining its total to "at least 101 direct attacks," according to the
group, including detentions, attacks on newsroom facilities and hacking of Al
Jazeera's Arabic-language Web site.
"It is stupefying that the government continues to send
out thugs and plainclothes police to attack journalists and to ransack media
bureaus," said Mohamed Abdel Dayem, CPJ's Middle East and North Africa
program coordinator, in a statement.
Al Jazzera earlier said its Cairo bureau had been ransackedand equipment destroyed by "thugs."
Below are 10 more incidents CPJ has compiled and confirmed,
with CPJ saying it is still investigating "numerous other reports."
- Peter Beaumont,
foreign affairs editor at the U.K. Observer, and Jack Shenker, a Guardian
reporter, were stopped today while trying to enter Tahrir Square, the Guardian
reported. The paper said they were intercepted by government forces, forced to
kneel facing a wall, and interrogated. Beaumont was quoted by the Guardian as
saying: "Although the square itself is calm, things around the periphery are
very different. We were taken at a checkpoint and led to the Ministry of the
Interior ... We were held for two hours ... and we were both warned that if we came
anywhere near the square again, things wouldn't go so nicely for us."
- Al-Hurra's Cairo
bureau was targeted on Thursday, the U.S. government-funded station told CPJ in
an e-mail. Men stormed its offices and "threatened to kill Al-Hurra's two
on-air journalists-Akram Khuzam and Tarek El Shamy-if they didn't leave the
building," the station said in a statement. The bureau was immediately closed.
- Two correspondents
for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi, were
detained in Cairo, the U.S.-government funded station reported. "We call on the
Egyptian authorities to release our correspondents and their equipment
immediately," RFE/RL News Director Jay Tolson said.
- Andrew Henderson, a
photographer working for UAE-based daily The National, was attacked on Thursday
by a group of young men who broke his camera equipment, National reporter Hugh
Naylor told CPJ in an e-mail. "Were it not for a bit of help from the military,
he would likely have been mauled to death by an angry mob," he told CPJ. Naylor
himself was punched several times in the head "by some angry, plainclothes
youth standing near the foreign ministry yesterday," he said. "I will credit
one apparent Mubarak loyalist for essentially saving my life. While pretending
to be angry at me and taking my passport, he walked me away from the crowd and
back safely to my hotel."
- Al-Jazeera's Arabic
website was hacked today, the station reported on the air. According to a
statement from the station, "For two hours this morning (from 6.30 am-8.30am
Doha time), a banner advertisement was taken over and replaced with the slogan
of ‘Together for the collapse of Egypt,' which linked to a page criticizing
Al-Jazeera." A spokesman for Al-Jazeera said that engineers "moved quickly
to solve the problem," The Guardian reported.
- Al-Jazeera's Cairo
office was stormed today by Mubarak supporters, the station reported on the
air. Its office was vandalized and it equipment was set afire.
- Prominent Egyptian
Blogger Wael Abbas tweeted today that he was detained and later released by
military forces. He said he has been "getting stopped by every single
checkpoint."
- Al-Jazeera English
producer Abdullah Mussa tweeted today that he had been attacked. He wrote:
"Released from street checkpoint. Three machetes to my neck and angry mob.
Foreign journalists are being accused if inflaming situation."
- Eric Feijten,
a reporter for Dutch news website Nederlande Omroep Stichting (NOS), was
arrested and released at least twice in the past two days. NOS released a
statement after his first arrest saying that Feijten had been beaten and
threatened. "Finally after 17 hours without drinking or eating, he was released
in a small hotel near the airport," NOS wrote. He left Egypt today and tweeted:
"At the airport and there was even a ticket. Kicked out, so i am not happy
because i failed to do my job."
- NPR reporter Lourdes
Garcia-Navarro was attacked on Wednesday, the station reported. Garcia-Navarro
was preparing a piece about the impact of demonstrations on the daily lives of
Egyptians when she and her colleague, Ashraf Khalil, were surrounded by dozens
of men. "We were asked if we were Israeli spies, or employees of the Arabic
news network Al-Jazeera, who have been a particular target of the authorities
here. It began to get heated and they wouldn't let us leave," Garcia-Navarro
said. She added that Khalil was punched repeatedly in the face.
- Andrew Butters of
Time magazine was attacked on Thursday. "I was grabbed by a young guy with
a club who hauled me over to an improvised checkpoint," NPR quoted him as
saying. He said it was clear that the actions were being coordinated by police
and security agents.
- Radio-Canada
cameraman Sylvain Castonguay and Radio-Canada producer Jean-Francois Lepine
were badly beaten by pro-government supporters near Cairo's airport on
Wednesday after their crew's interpreter was assaulted, CBC reported.
- A group of
Chinese journalists were briefly detained on Thursday after customs officials
discovered bulletproof vests, satellite phones, and walkie-talkies in their
luggage, according to news reports. They were released but part of their
equipment was confiscated.
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