On Wednesday, the Egyptian Public Prosecution issued a statement regarding the six journalists of the “Mtsadeqesh” platform who were arrested last week, indicating that they were ordered to be detained in pretrial detention and that investigations be completed with them, adding that it was proven that “there were no injuries to any of the accused or signs indicating the use of violence by them.”
The prosecution said that it had issued an order to arrest and search “the accused,” adding that “the accused were interrogated in the presence of their lawyers, a member of the Journalists Syndicate, and the accused, a member of the Syndicate.”
The statement added, "The first defendant who was investigated admitted during the investigations that he and the arrested defendants - and others - joined the media committee of the Muslim Brotherhood, and their work on its affiliated page called Matsadqash, which is responsible for one of the members of the group who fled outside the country."
The Public Prosecution’s statement also stated that the defendants participated in “a plan by the Brotherhood and its purposes aimed at overthrowing state institutions.”
The prosecution continued its statement by saying: “The defendants denied joining the Brotherhood, except for one of them, who had previously decided to join it and separate from it” before working on the “Mtsaddakeesh” platform.
The prosecution also addressed reports that detained journalists were subjected to torture, and said in the statement: “It was proven to the Public Prosecution that there were no visible injuries to any of the accused.”
She continued: "It referred those who alleged that cruelty was used against him - they numbered three - to the Forensic Medicine Authority, which confirmed in its reports that they had no injuries, and that there were no signs indicating the use of any violence before them."
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (an Egyptian human rights organization) quoted, on Monday, the defense lawyers who attended the investigations with the six journalists from the platform specialized in news verification and auditing, that “most of the journalists proved before the Supreme State Security Prosecution... that they were subjected to various forms of torture and ill-treatment while they were detained in various headquarters of the National Security Sector.”
Amnesty International issued a statement last week in which it called on the Egyptian authorities to “immediately release the journalists who were arrested in less than 24 hours from September 28 to 29.”
At the time, she described their arrest as “a severe blow to freedom of expression and a widespread attack on the platform’s entire editorial team.”
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate expressed, in a statement, its “deep concern over the detention of six journalists, including five trainees,” and decided to file a report with the Public Prosecutor “regarding what was raised about colleagues being subjected to physical abuse during their period of detention, being forced to make false statements or recordings, and proving the invalidity of any confessions taken under duress.”
The Council decided to form a permanent committee “to follow up on the case and seek the assistance of all legal expertise to support the colleagues, demanding their release with the guarantee of the union, or any other guarantees that take into account the young ages of some of them and their lack of experience.”
