CAIRO: Egypt’s public prosecutors ordered the release on Sunday of three Italians and a Palestinian who were arrested on suspicion of arson amid increased wariness about foreigners in the country.
A senior interior ministry official had said the four were arrested on suspicion of setting fire to synthetic palm trees outside a hotel near Cairo’s Tahrir Square, the site of week-long clashes and protests against the ruling military.
But the prosecution ordered their release because "the police investigation was unable to specify the perpetrator of the incident with precision," the state-run MENA news agency reported.
Gabriele del Grande, a friend of the arrested four, said they were freelancers taking pictures of a burning tree early on Saturday when a crowd of Egyptians surrounded them and accused them of spying.
"It’s a big misunderstanding caused by xenophobia in the country," del Grande said.
He said someone in the crowd called the police, who arrested the freelance journalists.
The state-owned newspaper Al-Gumhuria reported that the four "confessed to setting fire to the palm trees to spark chaos and panic among citizens in the course of operations to sabotage the country."
Foreigners, particularly journalists, are often suspected of being spies or working to damage the country’s reputation abroad during times of unrest in Egypt, which has seen sporadic violence since the January-February uprising.
