Cairo head of Iran’s Al-Alam TV arrested: Egypt security

Egyptian police on Thursday arrested the Cairo bureau chief of an Iranian news station and a former Islamist lawmaker, security officials said.

Ahmed Fahim Abdel Azim al-Suifi, the Egyptian head of the Cairo office of Iran's Arab-language station Al-Alam, was arrested in an apartment with ex-senate member Essam Ismail Farrag, the officials said.

They were arrested at the orders of prosecutors, the officials said without elaborating on the charges.

They were transferred for interrogation by the secretive National Security apparatus, which handles serious crimes against the state, one official said.

Thousands of Islamists have been arrested in a broad crackdown after the military overthrew president Mohamed Morsi in July, sparking a backlash from his supporters.

Media organisations seen as sympathetic to the Islamists have also been targeted, including the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera broadcaster's Egypt affiliate.