Egyptian security forces arrest political activists
The Egyptian Organization For Human Rights on Sunday said, and after the court hearing in the appeal of the decision of presenting both judges Hisham Bastawesy and Mahmoud Mekky to the Qualified Judges Committee, that groups of security forces cordoned South Cairo Court premises and arrested a group of political activists who were gathering in front of the court as were denied access to the court premises.
The following persons has been arrested:
- Nada El Kassas
- Alaa Ahmed Saif
- Karim El Sha'er
- Fady Amin Eskandar
- Muhamed Awad
- Rasha Azab
- Asmaa Ali
- Ahmed Abdul Ghafaar
- Esam El Sherif
These arrests took the form of abduction, as the security forces attacked them and forced them inside prisoners truck.
The organization said its condemnation to the repetitive arrests perpetrated by security forces against political activists in solidarity with the judges of Egypt, and stresses on its demands to the Egyptian Authority to use the Emergency Law only in terrorist acts, which is not the case in the current event.
The organization demanded the immediate release of the detained persons.
Meantime, the organizations said that Egyptian State Security Investigations Office on Saturday came to question its lawyer, Usama Abdel Razik,without any legal reasons or basis.
It said that Usama was surprised by two police agents visiting his residence and they informed him that they were sent by the State Security Investigation Office of New Cairo and they demanded him to follow them to meet some officer in his office. When Usama asked the two policemen about the reason of summoning him, they refused to reply and treated him inadequately, so he refused to go with them. Five minutes later, they returned back insisting to take him by force, but he refused again.
The organization said that summoning of human rights activists by security offices is considered an arbitrary act according to the Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, and a violation to their rights stipulated in national laws and international human rights laws concerned with personal freedoms and safety.