Egyptian investigative journalist and human rights activist Hossam Bahgat was released from the custody of military prosecution on Tuesday, two days after his detention on charges of "publishing false news aimed at harming national security."
Naser Amin, one of the lawyers who attended the questioning of Bahgat, told Ahram Online that his client was "released pending investigation, yet without bail."
Military prosecutors summoned Bahgat on Sunday for questioning. Keeping him in custody overnight, they ordered his detention for four days on Monday.
Before his surprise release the next day, Bahgat's detention provoked a flurry of condemnation online and amongst rights activists and local and international rights watchdogs, with calls for his immediate release.
Amnesty International said that Bahgat's arrest was a clear signal of the Egyptian authorities' "resolve to continue with their ferocious onslaught against independent journalism and civil society".
UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon said on Monday Bahgat's detention is "the latest in a series of detentions of human rights defenders and others that are profoundly worrying," while calling for safeguarding freedom of speech and association in Egypt.
Egypt's Foreign Ministry spokesperson on Tuesday, right before Bahgat’s release, denounced Ban's comments, saying his statement had "jumped to conclusions and assumptions" over freedom of expression, adding that Bahgat was questioned in association with "clear violations" of the country's penal code.
The spokesperson did not specify what these violations were.
Since the 2013 ouster of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Bahgat has written a series of thoroughly-researched investigative articles both in English and Arabic.
The investigative journalist became a contributor for Mada Masr in 2014, writing prominent stories like The Arab Sharkas Cell: The quasi-covert trial of Ansar Beit Al-Maqdis, The Mubarak Mansions, and Who Let the Jihadis Out?
Bahgat, 37, founded the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent human rights organisation, in 2002 and received the Human Rights Watch Alison Des Forges Award in 2011.
EIPR released a photo Tuesday afternoon showing Bahgat's colleagues celebrating his release, including the organisation's lawyer Yara Sallam, who was freed from jail in September.
