Saudi Arabia and Egypt head the list of the “world’s worst prisons for journalists” and together are holding nearly 60 journalists. Most of them have already been held for long periods so this will not be the first time they are spending the Muslim holy month in detention.
But this is a new and terrible experience for some. They include Maha Al-Rafidi, a Saudi journalist with the Al-Watan daily newspaper, who was one of the victims of a wave of arrests last September. They also include ten Egyptian journalists who were detained in September, October and November in the biggest wave of arrests since Abdel Fattah al-Sisi became president in 2014.