Two correspondents for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty have been detained in Cairo. Robert Tait and Abdelilah Nuaimi - both UK citizens - had just flown into the Egyptian capital to report on the ongoing political unrest. RFE/RL made contact briefly around 1 pm local time with Tait, who said he had to cut the call short because he and Nuaimi were being detained. A local RFE/RL correspondent in Cairo spoke around the same time to Nuaimi, who told him they were being held in what he believed to be a police station in the city’s Al-Azhar area.“We call on the Egyptian authorities to release our correspondents and their equipment immediately,” said RFE/RL News Director Jay Tolson.
(Source: RFE/RL/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)
Al Jazeera says Cairo office destroyed by "thugs"Al Jazeera said today that its office in Cairo had been burnt and destroyed by “gangs of thugs”. The news channel, which was ordered earlier this week to stop its operations in Egypt, accused the Egyptian authorities or its supporters of trying to thwart its coverage of political unrest in the North African country.
“The Al Jazeera Network have reported that their office in Cairo has been stormed by gangs of thugs. The office has been burned along with the equipment inside it,” it said in a statement. “It appears to be the latest attempt by the Egyptian regime or its supporters to hinder Al Jazeera’s coverage of events in the country.” The network said it would continue to report from Egypt.
Last Sunday, the Egyptian Information Ministry ordered Al Jazeera to shut down its operations in the country, and withdrew accreditation to its staff, according to the network. On Thursday, the news channel said three of its journalists were released after being detained by Egyptian authorities while covering that country’s massive street protests.
(Source: Reuters/R Netherlands Media Network Weblog)