Al-Jazeera journalists arrested in Cairo

Egyptian police have arrested four journalists working for the broadcaster Al-Jazeera in the capital, Cairo.

They include the TV network’s Cairo bureau chief Mohamed Fadel Fahmy and former BBC correspondent Peter Greste.

The interior ministry said the journalists had held illegal meetings with the Muslim Brotherhood, which was declared a terrorist group last week.

There has been a crackdown on the Islamist movement since the army ousted President Mohammed Morsi in July.

Since then, more than 1,000 pro-Morsi protesters have been killed in clashes with security forces, and thousands of Brotherhood supporters have been arrested, including the majority of its leadership.

A court will hear a case to disband the Brotherhood’s political wing, the Freedom and Justice Party (FJP), on 15 February.

The journalists, who work for Al-Jazeera English, are understood to have been detained late on Sunday night.

They are Mohamed Fadel Fahmy, who holds Canadian nationality, Peter Greste, an Australian, producer Baher Mohamed and Egyptian cameraman Mohamed Fawzy, who is said to have been arrested at home.

30.12.2013
SOURCE: BBC