Egypt: More activists and bloggers arrested

Egyptian bloggers continue to be targeted by the police and authorities. In less than a week, two more bloggers have been arrested. Our first story began when a group of 14 activists from Egypt, the US, the UK, Spain, Poland and France marched “to Gaza” in solidarity with Palestinians. State security cracked down on the march, abducted the activists as well as the foreign reporters, taking them on a ride around Cairo then leaving them, either in the desert or at the police stations.

All the activists were released except for Egyptian-German activist and blogger Philip Rizk. He was “kidnapped” by the authorities without a charge, without letting anyone know his whereabouts and without allowing him to see or speak with his lawyer, family and friends.

It was not long before police tried to take Magdy Rizk, Philip's father; and after he refused going with them, the state security actually broke into Philip's house.

Above is an update posted by Droubi on Jaiku yesterday.

You can read the detailed account of Rizk's kidnapping by an eyewitness, Sara Carr. Also, for continuous updates about Rizk's status and other related news, follow Delicious bookmarks, Benwhite, Free Philip website and Facebook group. More updates in Rizk are also found on Twitter here.

Palestinian blogger Laila El Hadad, comments on Rizk's arrest saying:

Here it is worth noting of course that Philip is not alone in his arrest. Every day dozens of Egyptian activists are arrest, taken to undisclosed locations, and tortured by the Egyptian secret police. As recent as last week, more than 50 members of the Muslim Brotherhood organization were also detained after a recent Gaza rally, and more than 500 in the past month.

The second arrest, according to Kareem Atef [Ar] and The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Global Voices Advocacy, targeted Diaa Gad, who was detained from in front of his house on February 6:

Egyptian police attack and kidnap blogger

The officers were in a car owned by central security before they broke into his house. Dia’ Eddin Gad is author of the blog Sawt Ghadib or An Angry Voice http://soutgadeb.blogspot.com. The police did not reveal the reason behind his arrest or where he was being detained.

Egyptian activists and bloggers are calling for the release of Rizk and Gad, as well as other bloggers behind bars, through new and innovative ways. However, the situation stays the same and the crackdown on bloggers continues.

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