Egypt: Al Jazeera journalist released from jail

Al Jazeera journalist Hisham Abdelaziz has been released from prison in Egypt after four years in pretrial detention.

Hisham and 40 other prisoners were released under a presidential pardon.

In 2021 it was reported that Hisham was on the verge of losing his eyesight as his health deteriorated in Tora prison.

Hisham has glaucoma, has previously had an operation on his eye and required ongoing medical attention.

The father of three was arrested in June 2019 whilst on holiday in Egypt and interrogated at the airport.  He was later interrogated at the National Security Headquarters, forcibly disappeared for a month and put in solitary confinement for 15 days.

Whilst in prison Hisham was kept for days without food or water and forced into confessing to “belonging to a banned group”.

READ: Egypt: Wife of detained and tortured human rights lawyer arrested

Al Jazeera called the allegations “baseless.” Since the 2013 coup in Egypt, the network’s journalists have been targeted for arrest and face trumped-up charges, imprisonment, ill treatment and the lack of due process.

On 3 July 2013 Egyptian authorities raided the offices of Al Jazeera Mubasher, who Hisham worked for, to try and stop its coverage of protesters who had come out in support of President Mohamed Morsi.

The offices of Al Jazeera Arabic were also raided and closed. In 2017, when Egypt and the quartet cut ties with Qatar, authorities in Egypt blocked access to Al Jazeera’s website.

Reporters Without Borders has said that Egypt is one of the top jailers of journalists worldwide and that independent media has been censored and targeted by prosecutors.

Virtually all media is under state control, in the hands of the secret services or wealthy businessmen.

Some 600 websites have been made inaccessible in Egypt since the government began blocking them in 2017.