Abdulmonem Mahmood – a journalist who fled Egypt. Photo credit: @moneimpress

Egyptian blogger and journalist Abdulmonem Mahmood has left Egypt, saying he fears for his life.

According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, at least 40 local and international journalists have been arrested or detained since the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi on July 3. And at least eight journalists have been killed since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The CPJ also accuses Egypt of conducting a “campaign of harassment on local and international journalists seeking to cover the ongoing political crisis in the country” –

“Through a series of arrests, prosecutions, assaults and censorship, the Egyptian government has made one thing crystal clear to journalists: Deviate from the official narrative at your own risk,” said CPJ Deputy Director Robert Mahoney. “The authorities must stop this attempt at quashing independent and critical reporting. They can start by freeing all journalists in prison or under arrest.”

On Twitter, Mahmood writes [ar]:

غادرت مصر من فترة والآن لحقت بي أسرتي ..نعم هربت خشية أنا أقتل غدرا ويحرق جثماني أو اقتل ف سيارة الترحيلات ثم يقول ع زملاء نضال أني إرهابي

— monem منعم (@moneimpress) September 12, 2013

I have left Egypt some time ago and now my family has joined me. Yes, I fled fearing for my life, that I would be killed by treachery, have my body burned or get killed in the transfer car [after my arrest], and then my colleagues would call me a terrorist

He adds:

اعمل أنا وزوجتي صحفيين تعرضنا بعد #الانقلاب لتهديدات لم نشهد مثلها في عهد مبارك .. للعلم أنا دخلت السجن ٣ مرات ف عهد مبارك :(

— monem منعم (@moneimpress) September 12, 2013

My wife and I work as journalists. After the coup, we were subjected to threats we have not experienced in Mubarak's era. For your information, I have been jailed three times during Mubarak's rule.

And Mahmood concludes:

الصحافة الان في مصر ليست متاحة سوي لمندوبي الشئون المعنوية ورؤساء تحرير تابعي المخابرات .. مهنة الصحافة أصبحت من أخطر المهن بعد الانقلاب

— monem منعم (@moneimpress) September 12, 2013

Journalism now in Egypt is only available for the correspondents [of the army] and the editors in chief, who are [in the pockets of] the secret service. Journalism as a profession has become one of the most dangerous jobs after the coup

He does not say where he is or what he is doing now.

Here's a Global Voices story from 2007 of one of the times Mahmood was previously arrested.