" Egyptian Witch hunt starts "?Australian journalist, Egyptian translator arrested by military, charged with incitement.

"Egyptian Witch hunt starts"?Australian journalist, Egyptian translator arrested by military, charged with incitement.(BM).CAIRO: An Australian journalist and his Egyptian translator have been arrested in the Nile Delta city of Mahallah on Saturday. As of Saturday evening, the two had been charged with “incitement” and had been transferred to the prosecutor’s office.
Austin Mackell and Aliya Alwi had been covering the protests taking place in the northern Egyptian town – the flashpoint of protests in 2008 – as part of the general strike that began on Saturday in Egypt when the military police arrested them.Alwi reported at 7 PM local time that they had been transferred to the military prosecution in Tanta, about an hour north of Cairo. Many online referred to this change as “worrying.”Mackell, an Australian national and journalist based in Egypt has written extensively from Egypt, having been published in major international newspapers and publications including The Guardian UK. The pair have worked together regularly in Egypt.Alwi, still able to send messages on her Twitter account as of early Saturday evening, wrote “Report against us, filed now. Many witnesses saw us ‘offering money to youth to vandalize and cause chaos’.”Their situation is being monitored closely by fellow media professionals and activists in the country, who have condemned the military’s use of violence and intimidation against media personnel in recent months.Shortly before their arrest, the vehicle they were riding in was attacked, glass broken and Alwi was called a “whore,” she wrote on Twitter.Hmmm....Aren't you glad Obama demanded that Mubarak leaves, and deals with this 'moderate' Muslim Brotherhood?Read the full story here.

Related - Egypt bans British woman from leaving country over NGO row.(BM).CAIRO: Egyptian authorities barred a British woman from leaving Egypt on Friday, saying her name was on a list of foreigners working for NGOs in Egypt currently under investigation over receiving foreign funds and “interference in internal political affairs.”The British trainer at the National Democratic Institute (NDI) was stopped from the London-bound plane, however, she was not arrested, bit notified she is barred from traveling pending investigations.The Egyptian authorities barred another 6 Americans from traveling over the past two weeks for the same reason.Tensions have risen between the US, Europe and Egypt after an Egyptian investigation referred 43 NGO workers including 19 Americans and 27 others (European and Egyptian) to trial on charges of “illegally receiving foreign funds for political motives.”The 48-year-old woman is currently under investigation for the same case, and her travel ban was ordered by the Attorney General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud.On Saturday, the state-owned MENA news agency reported that the British Foreign Secretary announced that it is providing assistance to the British woman, which was charged of using illegal funds to stir unrest in Egypt.Read the full story here.