On Monday 22 July, Egyptian cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar was forcibly removed from his Cairo home by plainclothesmen, reports Cartooning for Peace and Cartoonists Rights, citing a report in Al-Manassa.
Nada Mougheeth, his wife, who was not at home, was able to see through the security cameras how he was taken out of the house blindfolded and put into a vehicle. Nada Mougheeth also claims that a large sum of money was confiscated from the artist and his computer.
This information was first reported by the media outlet Al-Manassa, for which Ashraf Omar works.
The independent media reported that lawyer Mahienour El-Massry went to the police department, but that the police initially denied the cartoonist's presence or arrest.
Although it was initially unknown where he had been taken and his employer contacted the Journalists' Syndicate to try to"find out his whereabouts, ensure his safety, represent him legally and prevent the authorities from oppressing journalists and acting outside the framework of the law", Ashraf was brought before prosecutors to testify, according to the local journalists' syndicate. It is not known at this stage what he is accused of.
Media reports, citing the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate as a source, state that in recent months, Omar had published a series of cartoons about the country's electricity crisis, its economic situation and plans to sell state assets to wealthy Gulf investors.
Nora Younis, editor of al-Manassa, stated that "our colleague Ashraf Omar's cartoons did not violate any laws or attack anyone, and therefore al-Manassa finds it unacceptable that he was taken away blindfolded at dawn".(Source).
Cartooning for Peace and Cartoonists Rights call for Ashraf Omar's safety to be guaranteed and join Reporters Without Borders (RSF) in calling for clarification of what Ashraf Omar's wife describes as a kidnapping, in the absence of information from the authorities.
These events take place in a country that is one of the largest prisons in the world for journalists, according to RSF, which recalls that " censorship, searches, closure of offices, arrests, mock trials, enforced disappearances and arbitrary detentions are the daily life of journalists" in Egypt.
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
