Egypt confirms arrests of Al-Jazeera journalist

CAIRO – Egypt’s state news agency says the state prosecutor has ordered the arrest of an Al-Jazeera TV news producer for “fabricating reports” on the country’s internal situation with the aim of harming national security and sedition against the state.

MENA, quoting an Interior Ministry statement, said Sunday State Security arrested Mahmoud Hussein Gomaa. No additional details were provided.

The Qatar-based Al-Jazeera network carried the report on its own website Friday. The ministry’s statement is Egypt’s first confirmation of Gomaa’s arrest.

In September 2015, two Al-Jazeera English journalists received presidential pardons for their 3-year sentences for collaborating with the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood group in a highly-publicized case widely condemned by rights groups.

Two separate Al-Jazeera employees were sentenced to death in abstentia in July for passing secret state documents to Qatar.

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