IFJ calls on Egypt to release Anadolu Agency staffers

By Busra Nur Bilgic Cakmak

ANKARA (AA) - A global journalist group on Thursday called on Egypt to respect press freedom and release Anadolu Agency employees detained in a police raid at Cairo office earlier this week.

“We strongly urge the Egyptian authorities to release all jailed media workers and to respect press freedom. No journalist should fear punishment for reporting the news,” said Anthony Bellanger, secretary general of the International Federation of Journalists (IFJ), in a statement.

“Journalists should not suffer from political strife between countries,” Bellanger added.

The statement called on Egypt to stop repressing the media and said the country “has a long-standing record of abusing journalists and muzzling press freedom.”

On Tuesday, Egyptian police raided the Cairo office of Anadolu Agency on Tuesday and the whereabouts of four detainees, which include one Turkish citizen, remain unknown.

Ankara condemned the raid and called for the immediate release of the detainees.

Turkey’s political relations with Egypt have remained rocky since 2013, when Mohamed Morsi -- Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader -- was ousted in a bloody military coup.