Egypt frees Al Jazeera journalist

“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 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.