Salah Diab arrested on unspecified charges: Salah Diab, founder of Pico Group and Al Masry Al Youm newspaper, was arrested at his home yesterday morning on as-yet unspecified charges, AMAY, said quoting unnamed security sources.

Speculation in the domestic press is that the arrest has to do with building code violations, a hot button issue for the government these past two years that both President Abdel Fattah El Sisi and Prime Minister Moustafa Madbouly have recently emphasized. El Watan is alleging that Pico’s La Poire factory in Basateen was found in violation of the building code; Youm7 is claiming that Diab declined a settlement offer in connection with the alleged violation.

Background: Diab was arrested and faced an asset freeze and travel ban in November 2015 when he was detained in a case related to the use of state land. Prosecutors added a weapons charge after Diab was arrested at home. He was subsequently cleared of the charges and the travel ban was lifted. More recently. AMAY was handed an EGP 250k fine in April after the newspaper carried an opinion column by the anonymous columnist Newton (widely believed to be Diab himself).