AS supporters and opponents of the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, clash with escalating violence, particularly on the streets of the capital, Cairo, being increasingly caught in the cross-fire, it seems, are foreign journalists, among them the Sunday Herald’s David Pratt.
The paper’s foreign editor has been in Cairo, reporting from the fiercely contested downtown neighbourhood around Tahrir Square. On Wednesday, while on the streets covering clashes Pratt and Japanese photographer, Q Sakamaki – based out of New York – narrowly escaped being detained by pro-Mubarak supporters. Later that day, however, Sakamaki was attacked again by a group of up to 12 men and beaten. The following day he was again detained at a checkpoint and his passport confiscated.
Pratt told allmediascotland.com: “In over 25 years of foreign reporting rarely have I came across such a crackdown on the foreign and local press. Every day we are hearing of more and more colleagues being attacked, arrested and beaten, the streets of Cairo are one very dangerous place for everyone right now, but foreign reporters seem to have been singled out.”
