Ruling on ‘Brotherhood students’ expelled from Police Academy postponed

The Administrative Court postponed a case raised by 30 students contesting their expulsion from the Police Academy to January 24, 2016. The lawsuit was filed against the minister of interior and the president of the Police Academy.

In December 2014, the police academy expelled 40 students  in their third and fourth years “for belonging and having links to the now-outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group in Egypt,” spokesperson of the Ministry of Interior Hany Abdel Latif told the state-owned Al-Ahram.

Abdel Latif explained that investigations conducted by National Security proved that the students had first and second degree relatives who belong to the Brotherhood, and they themselves have participated in “violent pro-Brotherhood protests that erupted after [President] Mohamed Morsi’s ouster” and hence were deemed “unqualified to continue as students at the Academy or join the police force.”

Egypt had declared the Muslim Brotherhood group as a terrorist organization in 2013, after the military ousted former President Mohamed Morsi following mass protests.

The court’s advisory body had previously submitted a legal report to the court demanding “the dismissal of the academy’s expulsion decision,” deeming it “invalid” as these students “have joined the academy in 2012 after intensified security investigations that proved they have no ties to the group or criminal records, and they continued to study at the academy ever since, until they were surprised by their expulsion decision”, the privately owned Youm7 newspaper reported.

The father of one of the students, who preferred to remain anonymous, told Mada Masr that he sees no reason why his son was among the expelled students, confirming that neither his son, nor his family, have any ties with the Brotherhood or the protests that erupted after Morsi’s ouster. The father described the decision as "unfair," yet he had confidence about winning the case.

“The expelled students were randomly picked. The investigations are invalid, that's even what the court’s advisory body told the court,” he added.