Egyptian security forces arrested cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar in the early hours of Monday morning.
Home security footage reviewed by Omar’s wife, who was not present at their West Cairo home, shows government officials arriving at 1:30 am and leading the blindfolded artist away 40 minutes later.
In the past month, Omar’s cartoons, viewed by AFP, have satirized Egypt’s electricity crisis, national debt, and the sale of state assets to Gulf business interests.
Satirical cartoonists are often targeted by the authoritarian government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, which is ranked among the worst countries for press freedom by Reporters Without Borders.
In 2016, Islam Gawish was arrested for “running a website without a license,” and in 2021, Ashraf Hamdi, the creator of Egyptoon, was also detained at his home.
Earlier this month, journalist Khaled Mamdouh was arrested, bringing the number of imprisoned media workers in Egypt to 24.
