Fahmy was arrested on December 29, 2013 with two other journalists, Baher Mohamed and Peter Greste, in their hotel in Cairo. This was after General Abdel Fattah el-Sisi became president of Egypt. Sisi replaced the elected president, Mohammed Morsi, of the Muslim Brotherhood. The three reporters were accused of helping the Muslim Brotherhood. At the time, Fahmy worked for Al-Jazeera, which is owned by the government of Qatar. Qatar supported the Muslim Brotherhood, even after Morsi was out of power. 