RAFAH: Security forces briefly detained an AFP journalist and photographer in Rafah on the border with the Gaza Strip for a couple of hours on Sunday.
Plainclothes police officers erased the photographer’s memory cards, saying journalists were no longer allowed to photograph the border, which was being closed again after it was blown open 11 days ago.
A camera crew from state-owned Egyptian television continued to film the border area nearby, an AFP correspondent reported.
The officers refused to give their names and confiscated the journalists’ identity cards before taking them to the local security office in Rafah for questioning.
The journalists were released after two-and-a-half hours and were forbidden from working in Rafah any more “because of national security, one of the police officers told them.
The journalists are fully accredited with the press office in Cairo and have been working in Rafah for the past week. -AFP
