CAIRO — Egyptian state security prosecutors interrogated a team of journalists working for Al-Jazeera’s English channel Monday, a day after they were arrested in Cairo, a security official said Monday.
State security prosecutors usually investigate cases involving national security or terrorism. The official said the journalists from the Qatar-based network were being questioned for broadcasting without permission from a five-star hotel, the Cairo Marriott.
The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
It was not immediately clear if the team was facing other charges.
Egypt has long accused Al-Jazeera of bias in favor of the Muslim Brotherhood of ousted President Mohammed Morsi. But so far its crackdown on the network has mostly targeted its Arabic service and a local branch focusing on Egypt coverage.
The Interior Ministry had said its arrest of the journalists was part of its crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood group, which the government branded as a “terrorist” organization last week.
The ministry accused one of those arrested, without naming him, of using the hotel suite as a media center for the group, from which it broadcast “rumors and false news” and to hold organizational meetings for members of the Brotherhood.
The arrests came as authorities widen their crackdown on the movement. A Cairo court on Monday also sentenced 138 pro-Morsi activists to two years in prison with labor on charges of rioting and vandalism.
In Washington, Marie Harf, the deputy spokeswoman for the U.S. State Department, said the United States remains concerned about the interim Egyptian government’s Dec. 25 terrorist designation of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as ongoing detentions and arrests, including for peaceful demonstrators, civil society and political activists.
“We remain deeply concerned about all of the politically motivated arrests, detentions and charges in Egypt,” she said Monday. “These actions raise questions about the rule of law being applied impartially and equitably and do not move Egypt’s transition forward.”
Al-Jazeera network said in a statement that four of its journalists based in Cairo were detained late Sunday, including Australian award-winning correspondent Peter Greste, Al-Jazeera English Bureau Chief Mohammed Fahmy, a producer and a cameraman. The network called their detention “arbitrary” and called for their immediate release.
Al-Jazeera’s offices have been stormed several times before. State pressure on the channel has intensified since Egypt’s July 3 coup, which followed demonstrations by millions calling for Morsi’s ouster.
Al-Jazeera journalists and cameramen have been detained, and a court order has barred its local affiliate from broadcasting in Egypt since September, accusing it of endangering national security. The affiliate, Al-Jazeera Mubasher Egypt, has continued to broadcast using its studios in Doha, Qatar, collaborating with freelancers and using amateur videos.
