Hossam Bahgat receiving Human Rights Watch's annual award. Flickr/EIPR. Some rights reserved.Journalist and human rights activist Hossam Bahgat is scheduled to face military prosecution on Wednesday for investigating a secret military trial in mid-October.
On Monday, the military prosecution ordered the detention of Bahgat for four days pending investigations into charges of “publishing false information that harms national security" and “publishing information that endangers public well-being”, accusations often used to legally prosecute journalists and writers.
Bahgat’s reports “threaten military security”, stated military spokesman Mohamed Samir. He is being prosecuted under Article 102 (bis) and Article 188 of the Penal Code, Samir said.
