CRACKDOWN

Cartoonist Arrested for Anti-Sisi Comics

Egypt detains Islam Gawish for running unauthorized website.

Authorities said popular Egyptian cartoonist Islam Gawish was arrested Sunday for operating a website without permission, while his lawyer claims he was taken into custody for anti-government cartoons. Gawish said on Facebook he was arrested at his Egypt News Network (ENN) office along with an accountant working with the website and announced he was suspending the page, which publishes his cartoons, over the arrest. The accountant was released, but Gawish is still in custody. An interior ministry statement said ENN publishes news without authorization and Gawish was arrested for running a website without permission from the Ministry of Telecommunications as well as possession of pirated copies of software. Mahmoud Othman, Gawish's lawyer, said officers didn't let him see the arrest warrant and was told “unofficially and verbally” that the cartoonist was accused of spreading anti-regime comics.