Egyptian Chronicles: Egyptian X-File : The Forgotten reporter

Do you think that Sami El-Hajj was the only Al-Jazeera reporter being detained in the Afghanistan war !!??

Do you know that there is another reporter of Al Jazeera like Sami Hajj who is under arrest along with his family ??

No, he is not in Guantanamo bay ,well I think in his case , he would wish to be there ,at least all the world will be following his case even if his country does not care about it.

This man Mustafa Hamed and his family are detained in Iran for undeclared reason since December 2001, he entered Iran through Afghanistan , he used to work in Al Jazeera office in Kabul , I know it is not the safest place on earth especially then but what can You say ?? it is his living.

Already he disappeared and no one knows where he is , in my mind I think that he is detained , but his family is released and has a contact with their relatives in Cairo. Till now they can’t come back home , the only thing they need is an Egyptian Passport. The Egyptian foreign ministry are ignoring them in a very strange way .

Here is some quick info I found about him in Al Jazeera Talk forum , it is good to see that other people still remember him.

His name is Mustafa Hamed , he is now 63 years old , he is a graduate of Alexandria University , faculty of Engineering. He started his career in journalism as the correspondent of “Al Khaleej” Emirati Daily Newspaper in south Lebanon during the civil war in the end of the 1970s and the beginning of the 1980s then he moved to the “Al Ittihad” Emirati Daily newspaper as their correspondent in Afghanistan , he was the first Arabic reporter to enter Kabul after the Soviet invasion. He lived there and he became the correspondent of Al Jazeera and the head of its office in Kandahar after the recommendation of Tayseer Allouni in the beginning of the American invasion. Already he made hits like his interviews with Abd El-Salam ; the Taliban FM and the incident of bombing the Buddha statue.

The Taliban and Al Qaida considered him neutral in his political opinions , he was not with them nor against them despite he believed in the Islamic nationalism.

Hamed is married , has 6 Children “3 girls and 3 boys” and 4 grand children , all that offspring is being detained in Iran now.

The riddle here is complicated .

Yes he worked in very hot zones ,but he is not the first reporter to live in such places .

But why there is silence from all parties involved up till this moment whether Iran or Egypt or Al Jazeera !!

Iran did not say why they are keeping him and his family there !! Egypt is acting as if there were no Egyptian citizens suffering outside it , well actually they are no the first !! Al Jazeera’s position is strange and mysterious !!

There are many many questions in my mind need to be answered

Why does not Al Jazeera speak about him ??

Why do not they launch a campaign like the one they did with Al Hajj and Allouni ??

Why is there silence from the Egyptian Foreign ministry side ??

Why is Egypt silent on this despite its relations are cold and cut with Iran ??

And here I mean that in the case of our cold war especially from Cairo pharaohs against the Shahs of Tehran , with all those campaigns in official media , it is a golden opportunity !!??

Where are the international organizations from all this ??

Where is reporters without border organization !!??

I do not get it , it is an X-File indeed

I will not speak about Al Jazeera channel ,but I am speaking about the role of the Egyptian state and its foreign ministry in the protection of its citizens outside the borders !!?

Where is the role of the Egyptian Journalist Syndication !!?? DO not tell me that they do not care because he is enlisted as a member “I do not if he is a member there or not !!??”

One thing I know for sure if that gentleman were detained in days of Nasser or Sadat or even King Farouk things would be different !!??