Egypt frees journalist Dawoud

CAIRO: Egypt has freed prominent dissident journalist and politician Khaled Dawoud after more than 18 months in detention, a fellow journalist and a lawyer said on Tuesday.

A former head of the liberal opposition Dostour party and a senior journalist for the English edition of state newspaper Al Ahram, he had been arrested in September 2019 after rare anti-government protests.

"At around 5:00 pm on Monday, a police official informed us that the prosecutor had decided to release him," said Hisham Younes, a member of Egypt’s press club. "He got out at around midnight... no charges were brought against him." Lawyer and rights activist Khaled Ali said on Facebook that the prosecution had "decided to free" Dawoud.