BBC News Crew Temporarily Detained In Egypt

BBC News Crew Detained In Egypt
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An Egyptian drivers drives past banners supporting presidential candidate Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi in Cairo, Egypt, Tuesday, May 27, 2014. Egyptians were lining up to vote on Tuesday, the second and final day of the presidential election with the country's former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi poised for an almost certain victory.(AP Photo/Amr Nabil)

Three members of the BBC News team were temporarily detained on Tuesday in Cairo, Egypt, amidst the country's presidential election.

BBC News correspondent in Cairo, Orla Guerin, Cairo producer Wael Hussein and Middle East producer Kate Benyon-Tinker were first locked in a building by locals who called them "spies" while they were filming in Nasr City. Police later arrived and detained the news team for approximately two hours in the Nasr City Police station.

All three journalists informed the public of their safety via Twitter Tuesday morning:

Tweets sent out prior to the detaining suggest that the news crew had been closely covering the polls during the election, which was in its second and last day when the journalists were taken. With former military chief Abdel-Fattah el-Sissi poised to win, the election has highlighted the country's violent tensions as the Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies have staged a boycott in response to the removal of ousted Egyptian president Mohammed Morsi.

BBC News' Guerin provided a brief account of how they were detained:

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