Appeal against release of Shura Council protesters denied

An appeal against the release of 23 protesters arrested last week during protests at the Shura Council was refused on Wednesday privately-owned newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm reported.

The protesters were released on LE5,000 bail each on Monday. Ahmed Abdel Rahman, however, was the only one of the arrested protesters whose detention was renewed by the court.

On Monday the public prosecution appealed the decision of the court to release the defendants on bail, but on Wednesday afternoon the court ruling was upheld.

The police arrested 50 during the protest but released the majority of them on the same day — those who were journalists, lawyers and well-known activists, and kept the unknown protesters in custody, the newspaper added.

Lawyer and former presidential candidate Khaled Ali, acting as the protesters’ defense, told the newspaper that the defendants were tortured and the prosecution failed to order for them to be sent to Forensics Authority to see if there were indeed signs of torture.

Mahmoud Belal, lawyer at the Criminal Justice Unit in the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, told Mada Masr that the initial arrests last week were unjustified and that the charges against them were fabricated.

As for Abdel Rahman, who remains in custody, Belal said that at the time of the arrest the protester had a knife in his possession which is illegal.

“Abdel Rahman, being a worker at a hotel, claims that he always carry a knife for work purposes,” Belal explained, adding that he expects that his detention will be renewed again at a hearing in the second week of December, during which he will ask for release on bail.

State-owned daily Al-Ahram reported on Wednesday that when the defendants entered the court, they made victory signs and sang the national anthem.