On the afternoon of Friday, May 21, 2021, a police force arrested journalist and presenter Tawfiq Ghanem from his home in 6th of October City, west of Giza governorate. After they searched the house and confiscated some of his personal belongings, including his personal phone and laptop, he was arrested without explaining any reasons for such, and he was taken to unknown place.
Ghanem remained in illegal detention for four days before appearing at the State Security Prosecution in the First Settlement, on May 26, 2021. During that period, his family sent a telegraph to the Attorney General with details of the incident of his arrest. Two days later, his lawyer submitted a report to the Attorney General demanding to know his place of detention and to be presented quickly before the competent prosecution, in addition to enabling his family to see him.
The State Security Prosecution charged Ghanem with accusations, including; Joining a banned group, spreading false news and misusing the social media to commit a crime. And decided to detain him for 15 days pending investigations in Case No. 238 of 2021 State Security Prosecution.
During the investigations, Ghanem did not face any facts or exhibits related to the subject of the accusation, but he was asked about the history of his journalistic work and his intellectual opinions, according to what his family said.
Tawfiq Ghanem is a distinguished journalist and presenter with long career spanning more than thirty years, during which he held several journalistic positions, most notably; Leading the Media International Foundation, which administrating Islam Online website for ten years, and he served as director of the regional office of Anadolu Agency in Cairo, he decided to retire in 2015. Since the retirement he stopped all journalistic and media activities
Tawfiq who is 66-year-old suffers from multiple health problems including diabetes that require proper medical care and a daily schedule of medications.
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