Authorities issue release orders for 14 people detained after Gaza solidarity protests

Authorities issued release orders for fourteen people on Sunday after they were held in detention facilities for several days, lawyer Nabeeh al-Genady said on Sunday afternoon. The fourteen were detained following their participation in a protest in solidarity with Gaza outside the Cairo Journalists Syndicate last week.

Genady told Mada Masr that the release orders are yet to be implemented, anticipating that the detainees would be out of detention facilities within hours.

Some of the protesters were arrested from their homes at dawn on Thursday last week and presented to the Supreme State Security Prosecution, where they were ordered detained on charges of joining a terrorist organization and publishing false news, Genady told Mada Masr at the time.

Another four detainees were presented to the Supreme State Security Prosecution for investigation on Saturday, said Hossam Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. 

Among the latter four was Nour Adel, who was subjected to harsh treatment, including beatings and insults, before being presented to the prosecution, according to Genady, who said he has asked the Public Prosecution to investigate the assault. Adel was also ordered detained pending investigation into charges of joining a terrorist organization and publishing false news.

Weekly demonstrations in solidarity with Gaza have been held every Tuesday since the beginning of Ramadan on the steps of the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. Last week’s protest, however, was due to fall on the same day as the inauguration ceremony for President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s third term in office.

Security authorities therefore instructed that the demonstration be held on another day, according to former Doctors Syndicate secretary general Mona Mina, who attended some of the previous demonstrations, and lawyer Ragia Omran, who previously spoke to Mada Masr. 

Dozens of demonstrators gathered on the steps of the Journalists Syndicate the day after the inauguration instead, chanting for the Rafah border crossing to be opened and for Egypt’s authorities to do more to support Palestinians in Gaza.

Several opposition political parties and organizations, along with dozens of public figures, have called for the protesters’ immediate release.

Parties participating in the call included the Dostour, Karama, Arab Democratic Nasserist and Popular Socialist Alliance parties, as well as the Revolutionary Socialists and others, all of whom called for all humanitarian aid to be allowed to flow into Gaza through Rafah without coordination with the Israeli occupation. It also called for the suspension of the Egyptian-Israeli Camp David normalization agreement.

“The arrest and harassment campaigns will not deter us from carrying out our duties toward the Palestinian cause, nor will they push us to give up supporting our people in Palestine or declaring our political position by all available political means,” the signatories said in a statement issued on Friday.

Opposition figures and activists have criticized authorities in recent months, asking them to open the Rafah border crossing to allow for goods and people to flow freely in and out of the Gaza Strip. 

Over one hundred people were also arrested in October after Gaza solidarity protests were held in Cairo and Alexandria.