Washington, Oct. 8 -- Representative James P. McGovern issued the following press release:
"As the Democratic Co-Chair of the bipartisan Tom Lantos Human Rights Commission, I condemn the arrest of six journalists affiliated with the independent investigative journalism platform Matsadaash and call on the government of Egypt to release them immediately.
"On September 28, Egyptian security forces raided the homes of and arrested Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira and Abdullah Qadri, both of whom are editors at Matsadaash. Later that day, Egyptian state security arrested four additional journalists, Islam Barakat, Omar Helal, Mohamed Mahmoud, and Mohamed Adel, constituting the entirety of the newsroom. Authorities have not publicly issued charges aga...