Alexandria activist released

Prominent activist Mahienour al-Massry has been released, state-owned Al-Ahram reported on Saturday. In her first tweet following her release, she urged citizens to help four other Alexandria detainees.

An Alexandria prosecutor put interrogations with Massry on hold for lack of evidence of a crime, according to Al-Ahram. A hearing on her lawyers' objection to her two-year sentence is scheduled to take place next month.

Massry was arrested on Friday, on the basis of a two-year sentence she received in absentia last January for breaking the protest law. She, alongside other activists, had organized a protest in front of the Alexandria Criminal Court last December to oppose the controversial Protest Law.

The protest took place at the same time as the hearing of policemen accused of killing the young Alexandrian Khaled Saeed, whose death sparked widespread demonstrations against the police.

An Alexandria court sentenced her to two years in absentia, alongside Hassan Mostafa and Moussa Hussein, both activists. Others are still serving the sentence, including Loai Kahwagy, Omar Hazeq, Islam Mohamed and Nasser Aboul Hamad.

During her arrest on Friday, the prosecutor accused Massry of possessing letters from Kahwagy and Hazeq who are both in detention. However, her lawyers defended her on the basis that possessing letters from prisoners is not illegal.

Massry has been on the forefront of activism in Alexandria and her work has spanned a variety of causes, including Saeed's case, police violations and the treatment of Syrian refugees in Egypt.

Massry's arrest on Friday sparked anger among the activist community, who stated that the current regime has no intention of sparing any dissident voice from its crackdown.

Thousands have been incarcerated in the last nine months since the ouster of former President and Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Morsi. Since December, many have been arrested on charges of breaking the protest law. The crackdown has not been limited to members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was  labeled a terrorist organization by the government last December, but also includes secular activists.