Four journalists were detained, today, by Egyptian authorities, according to a statement released by the French Foreign Affairs Ministry. The journalists work for newspapers Journal du Dimanche and Le Figaro, as well as Paris-Match and Sipa Press, according to the French Foreign Ministry.

A Sipa spokeswoman has confirmed to BJP that Albert Facelly was arrested earlier today. However, according to Le Figaro, the four journalists have now been released.

According to the Sipa website, Facelly was born in 1964, and joined the agency in 1987. "He specializes in political and international current events. He has traveled extensively throughout the world covering famines, disasters, world summits, genocides, and conflicts in Algeria (1989), Rwanda (1994), Afghanistan (1995 & 1997), Palestine (2001), Haiti (2004) and Iraq (2004)."

CNN's Hala Gorani has confirmed, on Twitter, that a CNN camera has broken and "confiscated by security forces and some of our crew on the ground roughed up." Al-Jazeera says that its reporter Ahmed Mansoor was beaten, earlier today, by a group of security officers.

UPDATE: Two photographers were forced to hand over their memory cards after being arrested by Egyptian soldiers. [31 January 2011]