CAIRO: An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of a pro-government talk show host accused of insulting the police and disseminating false news on his state TV program, his lawyer said.
Khairi Ramadan was released on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds, about $570, according to his lawyer, Taher el-Khouly. The case has not been dropped, and prosecutors can appeal his release.
Ramadan was detained Saturday after a segment about police salaries. He said the wife of an unnamed police colonel had told him she was considering working as a housekeeper to supplement their meager income.
Egypt has regularly detained and prosecuted journalists since the military overthrow of an elected president from the Muslim Brotherhood in 2013, part of a wider crackdown on dissent. Authorities have stepped up pressure on the media ahead of this month’s presidential election, in which President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi faces no serious challenge.
Authorities are especially sensitive to any perceived criticism of the police or military.
The head of Egypt’s media regulatory agency said in comments published Monday in the independent Al-Shorouk newspaper that Ramadan should be released after he offered an apology.
Makram Mohammed Ahmed said Ramadan’s continuing detention hurts Egypt’s image.
Meanwhile, a human rights lawyer who went missing days ago resurfaced before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo, his group said late Sunday.
Ezzat Ghoneim, of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, was the first to confirm the arrest on Wednesday of a woman who was interviewed by the BBC for a report about forced disappearances that angered Egyptian authorities. The woman had said police were behind her daughter’s disappearance a year ago and that her daughter had been tortured in prison during an earlier detention, allegations denied by authorities.
The statement said Ghoneim’s whereabouts have been unknown even to his family since his arrest last Thursday, and that prosecutors have barred his lawyers from the proceedings.
Egypt court orders release of pro-government TV host
Egypt court orders release of pro-government TV host
Israel arrests 2 Turkish CNN journalists over live broadcast outside IDF HQ
- Police said reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility
- Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites
LONDON: Israeli police have arrested two Turkish CNN journalists who were broadcasting live outside the Israel Defense Forces’ headquarters in Tel Aviv.
Police said the pair were detained on suspicion of filming a sensitive security facility, according to the Israel Police Spokesperson’s Unit.
Reporter Emrah Cakmak and cameraman Halil Kahraman, from the network’s Turkish-language channel, had been reporting near the IDF’s Kirya military headquarters on Tuesday after Iran launched another missile barrage at Tel Aviv and other parts of central Israel.
During the live broadcast, two men believed to be soldiers approached the crew and seized the reporter’s phone, according to initial reports and a video circulating online that could not be independently verified.
Police said officers were dispatched after receiving reports of two people carrying cameras and allegedly broadcasting in real time for a foreign outlet.
עיתונאים של CNN טורקיה נעצרו לאחר שצילמו את בסיס הקרייה@NoamIhmels pic.twitter.com/t8a5P9yXfw
— גלצ (@GLZRadio) March 3, 2026
Israel’s long-standing military censorship system, overseen by the IDF Military Censor, has long barred journalists and civilians from publishing material deemed harmful to national security.
Since the Gaza war began, restrictions have expanded significantly, including tighter limits on filming soldiers on duty and sensitive or strategic sites.
After a series of similar incidents involving foreign media — most of them Palestinian citizens of Israel working for Arab-language and international media, along with foreign journalists — during the 12-Day War, Israeli police halted live international broadcasts from missile impact sites, citing concerns that exact locations were being revealed.
The Government Press Office later imposed a blanket ban on live coverage from crash and impact areas.
Communications Minister Shlomo Karhi and National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir subsequently ordered that all foreign journalists obtain prior written approval from the military censor before broadcasting — live or recorded — from combat zones or missile strike locations.
Police said that when officers asked the CNN Turk crew to identify themselves, they presented expired press cards and were taken in for questioning.
Burhanettin Duran, head of Turkiye’s Directorate of Communications, condemned the arrests as an attack on the press and said Ankara is working to secure the journalists’ release.
