President of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights (NCHR), Ambassador Moushira Khattab has called for the need to intensify efforts to close the file of prisoners of conscience “once and for all.”

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has published a 27-page report entitled “President Sisi’s puppets” showing how leading pro-government TV anchors and state-controlled media in Egypt are used to launch and then amplify smear campaigns against the few journalists still critical of the government.

This article is part of The New Arab’s States of Journalism series, a sustained exploration of freedom, repression, and accountability in MENA and global media landscapes. Read more of the series’ articles here.

Chair of the National Human Rights Council Moushira Khattab requested on Tuesday evening that imprisoned activist Alaa Abd El Fattah be transferred to an alternative site of detention with superior health facilities.

For the first time, the newly formed National Council for Human Rights has spoken publicly on the status of imprisoned activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who on Monday entered his 45th day on hunger strike in protest against harsh prison conditions and his deprivation of basic rights.

TV presenter Hala Fahmy and journalist Safaa al-Korbagy, two outspoken critics of senior management at the National Broadcasting Authority, appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in recent days, according to their lawyers.

At least six political detainees, who were held for years in detention without trial or investigation, were released on Sunday by order of the State Security Prosecution, lawyers told Mada Masr.

Egypt’s state television workers are protesting over the failure of employers to pay their bonuses over several years, bringing into focus the financial problems facing state media in the country.

Dozens of state media workers have been subjected to an internal investigation and punitive measures over the past week amid ongoing demonstrations to protest working conditions, low wages and years of overdue bonus payments.

A “sovereign” government entity has intervened in protests for overdue wage payments held by state media workers at the Maspero building in downtown Cairo, according to Khaled al-Sobky, the head of the union committee for economic sector workers at the National Broadcasting Authority.