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Middle East
Egypt frees Al Jazeera journalist
Egyptian authorites accused the journalist of harming the country's national interest.
Last Modified: 15 Jan 2007 00:07 GMT
Howaida Taha, an Al Jazeera documentary maker was prevented from travelling to Qatar 

A journalist from Al Jazeera's Arabic channel has been released on bail by the Egyptian authorities.
 
Howaida Taha had been held for two days while police questioned her about videos found in her luggage before being released on Sunday afternoon.
 
The videos depicted actors dramatising scenes of people being tortured in Egyptian prisons.
Howaida Taha, a documentary producers, was released on a US$1,750 bail by the prosecutor's offices in Cairo, her lawyer Ahmed Helmi said.
 
"I was questioned for seven hours on Saturday six hours on Sunday," she told Al Jazeera after her release.
"The investigation was to review many of the videotapes the security forces confiscated at the airport.
 
She said the video footage she was detained for was created with actors for the purpose of a documentary film about police torture in Egypt.
 
"I explained to the judge questioning me the content of the videotapes and denied what was reported by the technical compilations department as the judge asked me about the charges directed to my by the report.
 
"One of the charges was that I tarnished Egypt's reputation and harming Egyptian national interests, so I showed him all the videotapes."
 
Egyptian accusations
 
Egyptian prosecutors accused Taha of "practicing activities that harm the national interest of the country; possessing and giving false pictures about the internal situation in Egypt that could undermine the dignity of the country".
 
She was banned earlier this week from traveling to Qatar, where Al-Jazeera headquarters are based, after airport police seized 50 videotapes in her luggage, an interior ministry statement said Saturday.
 
Egyptian authorities have been increasingly sensitive about leaked videos showing citizens, both men and women, tortured in police stations.
Source:
Al Jazeera and agencies
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