What the six detainees allege

All six detained journalists have told lawyers they were tortured and forced to film false confessions, allegations the police reject. Lobna Darwish of the Egyptian Journalists' Syndicate, which represents the six, said they told prosecutors they were blindfolded and handcuffed for days, beaten and forcibly stripped.

• •Darwish said some were given electric shocks, and the journalists also described threats to harm members of their families
• •She said the filmed confession sessions involved repeated takes in front of what she described as "professional filming crews"

The official response

The interior ministry denied the torture allegations as baseless and an attempt by the detainees to evade the accusations against them, calling the six Muslim Brotherhood elements. The public prosecution said on Wednesday evening that forensic examinations of three of the journalists who alleged ill-treatment found no injuries or signs of violence.

The charges and the arrests

The six work for Matsadaash, an independent factchecking and investigative platform. They are Abdallah Qadri, Mohamed Ashraf Abu Emeira, Mohamed Adel, Islam Barakat, Mohamed Mahmoud and Omar Helal. Plainclothes officers arrested them last week at their homes and in the street. Authorities accused them of being unlicensed and producing false news on behalf of the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. One was charged on Sunday, the other five late on Wednesday.

The weekend protest and related cases

The protest in Cairo is planned for this weekend by journalists acting after their six colleagues were charged with terrorism offences. Hadeer El-Mahdawy, a journalist on the protest's organising committee, said: "We were horrified by the news of the torture of our six colleagues." She added: "We are at a very difficult moment on every level," urging that they use every tool they have to protect what remains of the profession and defend colleagues and themselves.

Separately, journalist Rasha Azab was questioned by the supreme state security prosecution over a social media post criticising the interior ministry and released on bail. Her lawyer Mahienour El-Masry said prosecutors confronted her with 11 identical complaints lodged in different governorates over the post.