A Russian reporter faces 24 years in prison for revealing a $2 billion arms deal between Moscow and CairoCopy LinkThe verdict on whether a Russian journalist will receive a 24-year prison sentence for high treason will be delivered by a court today, MEM reports. At the end of August, a government prosecutor argued that following his release, Safronov should be sentenced to two years of restricted freedom and fined over $8,000. Analysts say there is little evidence against him, and his defence team say the accusations against him are related to his work as a reporter and that he was targeted for revealing plans for a $2 billion arms deal to Egypt. Since President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi’s rise to power in Egypt, human rights groups have slammed the number of countries scrambling to strike arms sales with Cairo. Egypt is one of the most repressive regimes in the world, with around 60,000 political prisoners who are systematically tortured and denied medical care.
