Egypt: Journalists before returning to Switzerland
The work of journalists in Egypt is becoming increasingly dangerous. Foreign reporters are being followed, attacked and arrested in Cairo. There has been no trace of a correspondent from the Fribourg newspaper La Liberté since Wednesday.
There is no new information on the whereabouts of the journalist, who has been in Cairo since Sunday, the newspaper wrote on its website on Thursday evening. He was briefly able to inform his family of his arrest on Wednesday, but since then he has been unreachable. La Liberté has informed the Swiss embassy in Cairo, the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs and organizations for the protection of journalists. The correspondent was originally due to be released on Friday afternoon.
The deputy editor-in-chief of La Liberté, Sébastien Julan, told the news agency SDA that he was confident that the matter would have a happy ending. He did not want to give any further details. In view of the continuing confusing situation in Cairo, Julan added that he was cautious. It was unclear whether the journalist had been arrested by the army to protect him or to prevent him from doing his work.
A journalist from the French-speaking Swiss magazine L'Hebdo and a journalist and photographer from the magazine L'Illustré were interrogated in Cairo on Thursday. The three journalists had reached the airport in Cairo and were expected to arrive in Switzerland in the late afternoon, said the editor-in-chief of L'Hebdo, Alain Jeannet.
Impressum, the largest Swiss journalists' organization, condemned the latest attacks on media professionals in Egypt on Friday. The organization is in contact with Swiss correspondents in Cairo. It is important that journalists can find refuge in the embassy if they wish and remain in constant contact with it.
