Egyptian journalist Ismail Alexandrani held for past month - one month too many!

Ismail Alexandrani, who is also an independent social science researcher, is scheduled to have another hearing before a state security prosecutor on 2 November, when his pretrial detention could be extended yet again. It would be his third appearance before prosecutors since his arrest.

A specialist in political networks in the Sinai region, which borders Israel and the Gaza Strip, he was arrested on 24 September at a police checkpoint between the northwestern city of Marsa Matrouh and Cairo. One of his lawyers said state security agents held him blindfolded after his arrest in a sign that he was being targeted in connection with his previous journalistic reporting.

Counter-terrorism prosecutors, who are used as a mechanism of arbitrary repression by Egypt's security agencies, have accused him without any evidence of "spreading false news," "belonging to a terrorist organisation," and "using a website to promote ideas that incite terrorist acts."

Ismail Alexandrani, whose real name is Al Sayed Mohamed Omar Toufic, has been held for nearly a month at Tenth of Ramadan Prison on the outskirts of Cairo. His penname is often also spelled Al-Iskandarani. His lawyer has told RSF that he is being is denied outdoor physical exercise, although this is a right of prisoners in Egypt.

Previously jailed for seven years for his journalism

He has already spent more than seven years in prison in Egypt. He was arrested in November 2015 on baseless charges of "disclosing state secrets," spreading "false news" and "membership of a banned group," the Muslim Brotherhood. Sentenced to ten years in prison in May 2018 by a military court, he was finally released in December 2022, after his initial sentence was commuted to seven years.

Before his arrest in 2015, Ismail Alexandrani wrote for such media outlets as the independent Egyptian news website Mada Masr, the now-defunct Lebanese newspaper As-Safir, the Qatari TV news channel Al Jazeera English, the French news website Orient XXIand the French monthly Le Monde Diplomatique, in addition to his work as an independent social science researcher. He was shortlisted for the RSF Prize in 2016.

Egypt is ranked 170th out of 180 countries and territories in RSF's 2025 World Press Freedom Index.