3 people detained for producing documentary on Egypt’s student movement

The Dokki prosecution has remanded three people into detention for 15 days and ordered the arrest of a fourth pending investigations into charges that they belong to an illegal group. The defendants were arrested after they produced a documentary on the student movement in Egypt, said Ahmed Abdel Naby, a lawyer with the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.

The Giza Security Directorate said a total of 14 people were arrested Thursday in a rented apartment while conducting interviews “that include false claims against the police,” according to a statement posted on the Interior Ministry’s Facebook page. The prosecution later released 11 of the defendants, as they were working on technical aspects of the film and did not determine its content, said Abdel Naby.

Abdel Naby claimed the apartment was raided without a warrant, thus invalidating the arrests and detention orders.

Of the 14 initial arrests, National Security Agency forces kept Mahmoud Lotfy, Mohamed Ibrahim and Ahmed Suleiman for interrogation, accusing them of involvement in producing material that incites against the state, according to Abdel Naby. The three men were later referred to the Dokki prosecution, which then ordered the arrest of a fourth person tied to the film.

Ibrahim, the director on the film, and Suleiman, its executive director, have denied the charges against them, saying their role in the production was also technical.

“The investigations suggested that Lotfy, the producer, is a member of the Muslim Brotherhood and works for Al-Sharq Channel, which broadcasts from Turkey and which investigators consider to be a Brotherhood channel,” Abdel Naby explained. “Investigators also claimed that the same defendant is receiving orders from someone in Morocco to produce content on the student movement after June 30.”

While the investigations have only tied Lotfy to the Brotherhood, the prosecution has leveled the same charge against the other two defendants as well, despite the lack of evidence, according to the lawyer.  

Lotfy “said that he is a former member of the group and that his relationship with them is over. The questions directed at him from the prosecution dealt with his lifestyle and his views, which is standard in cases where a defendant is accused of belonging to a group, since it is difficult to find definitive evidence to prove so,” Abdel Naby said.

Al-Sharq Channel was launched after June 30, 2013 and is considered an anti-government platform. It broadcasts from Turkey and is owned by Ayman Nour, former head of the Ghad al-Thawra Party.

The channel was put in the spotlight when one of its hosts, Moataz Matar, leaked recordings of purported phone calls from President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.