Egypt: American freelance photojournalist and translator detained while covering riots

CAIRO, Egypt: An American freelance journalist and his Egyptian translator were arrested Thursday while reporting on unrest in northern Egypt where economic riots broke out earlier this week.

James Buck spoke to The Associated Press by cell phone from inside a police station in Mahalla El-Kobra, an industrial city were laborers and activists have been demonstrating against high food prices.

"I'm scared that they're gonna do something to me," Buck said before the phone line was cut off. He said he had been interrogated for about 45 minutes, and had not been harmed. It was unclear whether police knew he had a cell phone.

Buck is a freelance journalist, photographer and graphic designer who recently contributed material to the Oakland Tribune in California. His work is also widely circulated among rights activists and strike organizers in Egypt.

Egyptian security officials were not immediately available to comment on his detention.

A U.S. Embassy official, speaking on condition of anonymity in accordance with regulations, said embassy officials had heard reports of Buck's arrest and were investigating.

Thousands of Egyptians angry over high food prices and low wages have been rioting this week in Mahallah, a Nile Delta city that is home to the Middle East's largest textile factory. Rising prices have struck hard in Egypt, a U.S. ally where 40 percent of the people live in or near poverty.

Buck said police grabbed him Thursday evening while he was taking photographs of families on a hunger strike outside an Egyptian prison.

"We were just in the main square taking pictures...Police came and started chasing us," he said.

Buck and his translator, Mohammed Saleh Ahmed, managed to get into a taxi, but police pulled them out, he said. "They told him (the taxi driver) in Arabic that I'm from the CIA."

He and Ahmed both spoke briefly to AP by cell phone, describing their interrogation, before the call was abruptly cut off.

"They wanted my camera. I said no...They tried to take it by force. I had to fall on the ground and hold my bag to my chest — I curled up in a ball so they tried to pull it away from me," Buck said.

"Then they brought several plainclothes thugs — big guys — and they've been questioning us for 45 minutes, asking why I'm here, what I'm doing," he said.

Word of Buck's arrest first appeared on a popular Egyptian blog The Arabist (http://arabist.net) to which Buck contributes material.

Its author, Hossam el-Hamalawy, said Buck traveled to Mahallah from Cairo four times this week.

"James was harassed several times by the police in the previous trips. He was threatened and almost had his camera confiscated more than once," el-Hamalawy said.

Shortly after his arrest, Buck sent a text message to his own Web site, http://twitter.com/jamesbuck, with one word: "Arrested."

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