Egypt activists call for release of detained human rights defender

Egyptian activists call for the release of fellow human rights advocate Hossam Bahgat who has recently been detained by the military over a previous report he wrote about the army.

Bahgat, founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights, was interrogated by the Egyptian military intelligence Sunday and was transferred into the custody of the military prosecution.

A petition signed by rights groups in Egypt as well as online campaigns call on the Egyptian authorities to release the 36-year-old investigative journalist, while AMNESTY International described his arrest as "another blow for freedom of expression."

Egypt's newest constitution allows military trial for civilians in crimes related to assaulting military institutions. Bahgat's report referred to some allegedly rebellious officers in the army then.

Egyptian and foreign activists claim the country's currently military-oriented leadership limits the freedom of the press and that of expression, arguing that the crackdown on the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood extended to reach opposition voices in general.

Egyptian President Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi, however, said earlier in September in an interview with the CNN that Egypt enjoys "unprecedented freedom of expression."

Also in September, the president ordered a pardon of 100 prisoners including two journalists of Al Jazeera news network, yet the pardon excluded well-known activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and others who were arrested over breaking an anti-protest law. Endit