Four Australian journalists were arrested on Sunday in Cairo. One journalist is Greek-Australian Jason Koutsoukis (photo), who works for Fairfax media group and ABC television network.
The ABC Foreign Correspondent crew was handed over to the military by vigilantes after they were seen filming a donkey.
Blindfolded and handcuffed, the journalists were brought together with other Westerners to a military post where they had been interrogated. Their passports and mobile phones being confiscated.
“My eye sockets were filled with cotton wool, kept in place by bandages wrapped around my head. My hands were tied behind my back with insulated copper wire”, writes Jason Koutsoukis about his experience in news portal The Age.
“It’s odd just how disorienting sight deprivation can be, robbing you of a sense of direction and time” he stresses.
Koutsoukis expresses his concerns about the local journalists, ” we hear lots of horrible stories”, he notes.
The group was released after five hours.
Australian Foreign Minister Kevin Rudd condemned the attacks on Australian journalists.
Rudd said he told the Egyptian Foreign Minister that attacks on foreign and Egyptian reporters and other civilians were unacceptable.
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