An Egyptian man has been “forcibly disappeared” after posting a video on Facebook in which he criticised the economic situation under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi just months ahead of the presidential election, a rights group has confirmed.

Journalist Ariane Lavrilleux authored a report that said French intelligence had been misused by Egypt to target smugglers on the Libyan border and kill civilians.

Egyptian poet Galal al-Behairy attempted to kill himself in prison where he has been held for five years, according to the Pen International rights group.

Egyptian authorities arrested a social media influencer on Tuesday who has promoted an application that charges users for Umrah by proxy, according to a lawyer who lodged a complaint against the self-styled preacher.

Egyptian opposition activist Hisham Kassem has begun a hunger strike in custody, his supporters said on Saturday, in protest against what he considers as politically motivated detention.

Egyptian award-winning journalist Shahira Amin slammed the ongoing demolition of momentous mausoleums that once chronicled the country’s history, describing it as being “similar to the Taliban’s destruction of ancient Buddha statutes.”

Egyptian journalist Ahmed Gamal Ziada announced on Wednesday that his father has been detained, after he had disappeared for nearly 24 hours.

An Egyptian journalist who was detained over the weekend was released late on Sunday, his employer announced in a tweet.

Egyptian security forces detained a local journalist who had covered a breaking news story allegedly involving five Egyptian officials aboard a private plane seized by Zambian authorities earlier this week.

The relationship between the arts and politics in Egypt is as old as the republic. Over the decades, Egyptian artists, willingly or begrudgingly, have been drawn towards circles of power. Their images have been moulded, manipulated, and in cases of dissent, distorted by the nation’s successive regimes.