Rights groups condemned the arrest of reporter Ariane Lavrilleux, who authored the report that said French intelligence intended to track jihadist militants had been misused by Egypt to target smugglers on the Libyan border and kill civilians.
Lavrilleux's lawyer, Virginie Marquet, said her client was being questioned by a judge and police officers from the French intelligence service DGSI as part of an investigation into compromising national security.
The documents included purported messages from those involved alerting their superiors that their information was being misused for bombing civilians.
Reporters Without Borders and other rights groups also released statements condemning the arrest.
Reporting by Juliette Jabkhiro; Editing by Daniel WallisOur Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
Persons:
Ariane Lavrilleux, France's, Virginie Marquet, Marquet, Katia Roux, Juliette Jabkhiro, Daniel Wallis
Organizations:
Reuters, Amnesty, Thomson
Locations:
Egypt, Libyan, Paris, Cairo, Amnesty France