According to mediaforfreedom, and IFEX (via ANHRI), several Egyptian bloggers were arrested today.

mediaforfreedom says that all five were arrested.

The Cairo-based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information reported that three Egyptian bloggers were arrested by the government on the same day Egyptian blogger Nora Younis received the Activist Award offered by the U.S.-based human rights group, Human Rights First.

The organization reported that Hani Nazeer Aziz, a Christian, Mohammed Khairi and Mohammed Adil, Bilal Alaa, and Husam Yahya were arrested after they were harassed and their houses were attacked by the Egyptian security authorities. It is reported that the police used different means to arrest the bloggers, such as arresting their family members in order to make them turn themselves in to the police.

“It’s not a coincidence at all that the security forces start attacking Egyptian bloggers at the same time a colleague of theirs, a human rights activist, receive an important award in the United States,” said Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information. “The Egyptian government has not forgiven the bloggers in their distinguished and continuous role in revealing the severe violations of the law and he human rights.”

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