An Egyptian journalist has been taken into custody in his home city of Damietta after a Facebook post criticizing his village’s local council, in a case press leaders say underscores the country’s shrinking space for free expression.
Eslam Elraghi, a reporter for the state-owned daily Akhbar al-Youm, was taken into custody Sunday on charges stemming from his online criticism of uncollected garbage and poor public services.
In a May Facebook post, Elraghi relayed residents' complaints to then-governor of Damietta, Manal Awad. He described trash piles left uncollected in his village’s inner streets for more than 15 days in sweltering summer heat, turning the area near the youth center in Meet El-Sheikh into what he called a “garbage pit.”
In his post, Elraghi had decried local officials' regular practice of removing trash only from main roads to avoid scrutiny from higher-ups, while leaving residents to suffer foul odors and children to fall ill.
Elraghi, who is still in detention, wrote on Facebook that his arrest followed a complaint from his village head.
Following the arrest, Khaled Elbalshy, head of Egypt's Journalists' Syndicate, called the case a “dangerous precedent.”
“Referring a journalist to a criminal court and issuing an arrest warrant over a Facebook post criticizing a local official contradicts all calls to widen freedom of expression,” remarked Elbalshy on Facebook.
The syndicate said it would petition for Elraghi's release, arguing the detention violates Egypt’s press law that bans imprisonment in publishing cases.
The syndicate dispatched a lawyer to Damietta to represent Elraghi, and vowed to take all necessary legal measures to defend his rights.
“These arrests confirm the hostile environment for journalism in Egypt,” Elbalshy said, renewing calls for legislation banning jail terms in publishing cases and for greater space for critical voices.
Egypt ranks sixth worldwide for jailed journalists, with 24 detained last year, including Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar, who was arrested in July 2024 and remains in pretrial detention.
During a recent UN human rights review, states urged Egypt to enact reforms on detention, torture, and press freedoms. While the government asserted that it had accepted the majority of the recommendations, rights advocates argue its claims do not reflect the reality on the ground.
