A journalist, a contributor to Qatari channel Al-Jazeera, arrested in December, was medically neglected in detention, the Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) reported on Monday (January 4th).
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The journalist, who has also been a contributor to the Islamist site Al-Shaab, banned in Egypt since 2014, criticized the Al-Jazeera site for the Egyptian government's handling of the Covid-19 pandemic, according to a CPJ statement published Monday evening.
"
Egyptian journalist Aamer Abdelmonem is already in poor health, and detaining him during a global pandemic puts his life at risk
," said Sherif Mansour, CPJ's head of the Middle East and North Africa.
According to Abdemonem's daughter, Mariam Aamer, who spoke on the local Darb news website, which is inaccessible in Egypt, the journalist suffers from diabetes and cataracts in both eyes and was unable to access insulin and his glasses.
Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi came to power in 2014, a ruthless wave of repression has swept through Egyptian journalists, opponents and activists.
The Egyptian authorities consider Al Jazeera to be a media outlet for the Muslim Brotherhood, a group they have classified as "
terrorist
".
At least 27 journalists were jailed in Egypt as of December 1, according to CPJ's latest report.