Egypt expels 3 Al Jazeera journalists

CAIRO // Egypt yesterday expelled three foreign journalists working as freelancers for Al Jazeera television's English channel, the state news agency MENA reported.

Airport security officials, quoted by MENA, said the three men left on a flight to London.

Correspondent Wayne Haye, a New Zealander, South African cameraman Adil Bradlow and Irish producer Russ Finn were arrested last Tuesday while covering the political crisis in Egypt.

Police said they did not have press accreditation.

The Qatar-based channel said last week: "There has also been a campaign against Al Jazeera, in particular, as the channel's offices were raided last month and security forces seized equipment which has yet to be returned."

Egyptian authorities and local media have accused Al Jazeera of biased reporting on the popularly-backed coup that toppled Islamist president Mohammed Morsi on July 3 and on its bloody aftermath.

The government has levelled similar accusations against other foreign media.

Police have also detained a correspondent for Al Jazeera's Arabic channel, Abdullah Al Shami, and Mohamed Badr, a cameraman for its Egyptian affiliate, for more than a month.

On Friday, the interior ministry said police seized two vans with four cameras and transmission equipment belonging to Al Jazeera's Egypt affiliate, Al Jazeera Mubasher Misr.

According to state media, the government has called for the closure of the news channel, which has already relocated much of its operations to Qatar.