CAIRO 

Amnesty International has called on Egypt to release a veteran journalist who has been detained since May 21, 2021.

The rights group in a post Sunday on Twitter urged Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to free 66-year-old Tawfik Ghanem.

“He has already spent 300 days unjustly behind bars for his media work. He is denied adequate health care for his multiple health problems and held in horrid conditions,” it said.

An Egyptian court on March 19 decided to extend Ghanem 's detention for another 45 days.

Security forces raided Ghanem's home in Cairo on May 21 last year and detained him without an arrest or search warrant. His mobile phone and computer were also confiscated.

Ghanem, whose journalism career spans more than 30 years, has also held managerial positions in many media organizations.

From 1999-2010, he served as general manager of Media International, a media company that pioneered the development of digital broadcasting and online journalism in the Arab world.

Ghanem worked as the Arabic news editor at Anadolu Agency from 2012 until his retirement in 2015.