A Canadian journalist who is under arrest in Cairo and accused of being member of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood has been interrogated twice by Egyptian authorities and is expected to undergo a third round of questioning on Sunday.
Mohamed Fahmy, 40, the English-language bureau chief in Egypt for the Qatar-based television network Al Jazeera, was detained along with three of his colleagues at their hotel on Sunday night.
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One of the men has since been released. But Mr. Fahmy and the other two – an Australian named Peter Greste and an Egyptian named Mohamed Baher – remain in custody.
Mr. Fahmy’s bother, Sherif, said in a telephone interview Wednesday from Kuwait, that his parents, who live in Montreal, have been speaking to Mohamed Fahmy’s lawyer but they are frightened for the safety of their son. “We are in contact every hour and of course they are extremely scared,” Sherif Fahmy said.
He added that the Australian foreign affairs minister has been quoted in Egyptian newspapers as saying he is intent on securing the release of Mr. Greste. “But we have not seen this from the Canadian side,” Sherif Fahmy said.
The Canadian government will say only that it is providing consular services to Mohamed Fahmy and that officials are in contact with the family.
Mr. Fahmy fell on the day before his arrest and severely hurt his shoulder, his brother said. After the second interrogation with Egyptian authorities, which was attended by two Canadian consular officials, he was taken to hospital where he remained on Wednesday.
Until that time he had been held in the Tora prison, which is used to house high-profile political detainees.
Sherif Fahmy said Egyptians are accusing his brother “of being related to the Muslim Brotherhood and saying that he is broadcasting information through a prohibited channel which is Al Jazeera.”
But any suggestion that Mohamed Fahmy is working for the Muslim Brotherhood, the movement of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi which was declared a terrorist organization last week by the military-backed government, is “insane,” said Sherif Fahmy. The Fahmys and their three boys arrived in Canada 20 years ago. Mohamed Fahmy graduated from a university in Calgary before working for news organizations including The New York Times, the Red Cross and CNN. He started his job with Al Jazeera in September.