Egypt detains six over play 'insulting to security forces'

Egyptian officials say six people have been arrested for their involvement in a play seen as insulting to security forces.

Officials said on Tuesday that the playwright, director and officials of the Cairo sports club where the play was staged were arrested last week and are being investigated by military prosecutors.

The play's title is the name of a police conscript, Suliman Khater, who killed seven Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula in 1985.

Khater was sentenced to life in prison but was found dead in his cell a year later.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to talk to media.

Last week, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said any defamation of the country's security forces amounted to "high treason."

"No one defames the army and police while I am here," Sisi said.

"Don't allow anyone to defame them. If anyone defames them, he is defaming all Egyptians. It's no longer a question of freedom of speech," he added.

An Egyptian court on Monday ordered the release of a pro-government talk show host accused of insulting the police and disseminating false news on his state TV programme.

Khairi Ramadan was detained Saturday after a segment about police salaries.

He said the wife of an unnamed police colonel had told him she was considering working as a housekeeper to supplement their meager income.

Egypt has regularly detained and prosecuted journalists since the military overthrow of an elected Islamist president in 2013, part of a wider crackdown on dissent.

Authorities have stepped up pressure on the media ahead of this month's presidential election, in which Sisi faces no serious challenge.

Authorities are especially sensitive to any perceived criticism of the police or military.

Since 2013, Egyptian authorities have sentenced hundreds to death and arrested tens of thousands of people following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.

Sisi has overseen the crackdown and the regime he oversees is highly sensitive to any perceived public or private criticism of the government.

Though Islamists have been largely targeted in the sweep, secularists and pro-democracy activists have also been jailed.

A wave of arrests have also taken place against pop singers, actors and others in entertainment.