Africa Media Development Foundation (AMDF) is calling on Egyptian authorities to immediately release arrested journalist, Mohamed Monir and drop all charges against him.

The journalist is said to have a failing health, therefore keeping him in custody will be unfair and cause more damage to his health.

Report says Mohamed Monir was taken by plainclothes security officers from his apartment in Giza. He was later seen before state security prosecutors, who ordered his 15-days pretrial detention on charges of spreading fake news, joining a terrorist group and misusing social media.

The 65 years old veteran journalist Monir, had in a Facebook post shared a video footage dated 14th June 2020, showing plainclothes men, later police officers trying to gain access into his residence.

Monir, the editor-in-chief of al-Diyar newspaper and a former deputy editor of pro-government Al-Youm Al-Sabae Newspaper, was arrested on Monday 16th June.

Several members of the Egyptian journalist’s union have called for emergency board meeting to discuss the “siege imposed on freedom of the press,” noting that Monir is the fourth union member to be arrested in the recent weeks.

“The authorities know that those who are arrested have no connection to acts of violence or incitement to it,” Board member Mohamed Saad Abdel Hafiz wrote on Facebook.

“Silencing everyone and spreading fear is their goal, but for all those who express an opinion or different position in this country,” he added.

There is no clear tie between Monir and Al-Jazeera network, but his family told reporters that the journalist had recently granted an interview to the television network.

Egyptian authorities had in 2013 shut down the Al-Jazeera network in their country and arrested many of its reporters, accusing them supporting the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group.