SHAFAQNA (Shia News Association)— The Egyptian military detained on Thursday three activists with the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (EDSP) and have continued to detain them, Amnesty International reported in an urgent action letter on Friday afternoon.
Islam Amin, Karim Al Kenany and Mohamed Masoud were detained on July 12, after protesting in Rabaa al-Adawiya, in the Nasr City district of Cairo.
The protest, which the men were helping to coordinate, was calling for greater inclusiveness in Egypt’s Constituent Assembly – the body tasked with writing the country’s next Constitution.
At around 11 PM men in plainclothes disrupted the protest, reportedly attacking protesters and wounding at least one with a bladed weapon.
As protestors began to disperse, they reportedly saw Mohamed Masoud being arrested by men in plainclothes, believed to be security officers. The friends and family of Islam Amin and Karim Al Kenany were unable to reach them on their mobile phones and so became concerned.
During the next three hours, an ESDP lawyer visited two police stations in Nasr City attempting to locate the activists. Enquiring at S28, a military area in Nasr City (previously employed by the military forces to detain protesters) a military officer denied the men were there, yet minutes later the lawyer saw the three activists being driven away in an open-backed vehicle surrounded by what appeared to be security officers in plain clothes. The head of Egypt’s military police has since told the lawyer that the men have been taken to the Military Prosecution.
“Amnesty International would call for the activists’ immediate and unconditional release if they are being held solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of assembly,” said the statement released by email on Friday.
“The organization is concerned that, despite being civilians, the men are likely to face an unfair trial before a military court.”—www.shafaqna.com/english
