The disappearance of Haider Qandil, a journalist and photographer at Egypt’s Al-Dostor newspaper, has raised serious press freedom concerns. According to Mada Masr, an independent Egyptian outlet, Qandil was detained by security forces on Monday evening after leaving his office in Cairo’s Dokki district. His whereabouts remain unknown.
His wife, Asma al-Nashshar, told Mada Masr that the arrest was part of a broader security campaign targeting Shia Muslims in Egypt ahead of the Ashura commemoration. A member of the Journalists’ Syndicate council confirmed the arrest and said the syndicate’s head was in contact with security agencies to determine Qandil’s location. The enforced disappearance — where authorities refuse to acknowledge a detainee’s location — is a well-documented pattern in Egypt that human rights groups have long condemned.
