Egyptian blogger Wael Abbas detained: lawyer

Egyptian blogger and journalist Wael Abbas, known for standing up against police violence, was arrested overnight at his Cairo home and taken to an unknown location, his lawyer said today.

In a message on his Facebook account overnight, Abbas wrote: "I am in the process of being arrested".

Abbas's lawyer confirmed he had been detained.

"I am in touch with his family," Gamal Eid told AFP. "And what has happened is a kidnapping, not an arrest." The blogger was arrested by heavily armed police and blindfolded before being taken away, according to Egypt's Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, run by Eid.

"We are currently trying to find out where he is," Eid added.

Abbas has been posting about police violence, torture and corruption on social media for more than a decade.

He was particularly active during the January 2011 street protests that toppled president Hosni Mubarak.

His Twitter account was suspended in December 2017.

In a statement today evening, Reporters Without Borders head Christophe Deloire said Egyptian authorities must guarantee Abbas's "physical and psychological integrity and must quickly provide information on his current status".

Since 2013, international human rights groups have criticised President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government for cracking down on secular and left-wing activists, as well as Islamists close to the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

Sisi was re-elected in March after securing more than 97 per cent of the vote. Abbas's arrest follows that of two other bloggers earlier this month, Sherif Gaber and Shadi Abuzeid.

Abuzeid, famed for his satirical videos on YouTube and Facebook, has been transferred to the state security prosecutor's headquarters in Cairo.

Earlier this week, an Egyptian military court sentenced journalist and researcher Ismail Alexandrani to 10 years in prison.

Alexandrani, an expert on jihadism in the Sinai Peninsula, was arrested in November 2015 and accused of belonging to the Brotherhood.

Sisi announced last Wednesday that over 330 young prisoners, including some arrested in protests, had been pardoned.