Egyptian satirical cartoonist arrested at home: Press Union

According to the Egyptian Press Union, this is the second such arrest this month. Journalist Khaled Mamdouh was arrested at home on July 16 and held at an unknown location before appearing again before the public prosecutor’s office on Sunday.

Union leader Khaled al-Balshy said more than 23 journalists were behind bars in Egypt and called for their release.

The union “condemns the arrest of our colleague Ashraf Omar” and “demands the disclosure of his place of detention and his immediate release,” Balshy said in a statement, adding that he had filed a complaint with the public prosecutor’s office.

Last month, Omar, who also works as a translator, drew several satirical cartoons poking fun at Egypt’s electricity crisis, its debt-financed economic policies and its plans to sell state assets to wealthy Gulf investors.

Balshy said the union expressed “full solidarity” with Omar and said he had “the fundamental right as a journalist to express the suffering of citizens through his drawings”.

The media watchdog Reporters Without Borders ranks Egypt 170th out of 180 countries in the World Press Freedom Index.

Despite international criticism of the human rights situation, Cairo has pardoned hundreds of political prisoners in the last two years.

However, human rights groups estimate that at least three times as many people were arrested during the same period.

bur/dcp