I’m 18, in prison, pending investigation

“[Mahmoud] and many others are paying a hefty price for believing in the revolution and standing by its principles. And they are paying the price pending investigation.”

Let me tell you the story of Mahmoud Mohamed, 18 years old, and a secondary school student who has been detained since January 25, 2014. Today, his detention was renewed for another 45 days, pending investigation. 

Mahmoud was detained from El Salam checkpoint on Cairo’s Ring Road whilst headed back home after celebrating the third anniversary of the revolution. He caught the officers’ attention because he was wearing a “Jan 25” scarf and a t-shirt with the logo of the “Nation without Torture” campaign. He was detained under the infamous, controversial Protest Law, to which many Egyptian activists have so far fallen victim.

According to his brother Tarek Mohamed, better known as “Tarek Tito,” Mahmoud was severely beaten for about an hour at the checkpoint, then was taken to El Marg Police Station, where the beating continued for another hour and where he was also electrocuted in sensitive areas of his body.  Tito says that when the state security officer investigating the scene arrived, another two hours of beating took place alongside the interrogation. Today, Mahmoud told the judge that he, and his friend Islam Talaat, 21, who was detained with him, were beaten, tortured, and electrocuted. According to his lawyer, the last beating Mahmoud received was yesterday, while his brother Tarek was trying to do everything he could to visit him on his scheduled visitation day. He was not allowed to see him.

Mahmoud was taken to the public prosecutor on the next day of his detention (January 26), where he was charged, like many others, with belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood organization and with carrying weapons and inciting protest. It is worth noting that his brother Tarek Tito was earlier detained for over two months on charges of belonging to the Brotherhood. Interestingly, Tito was also detained under the Brotherhood, accused of attacking the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters. Like his brother, Mahmoud was detained pending investigation by the public prosecutor. He remains in detention to this day in the Appeals Prison on his 175th day. With his renewed detention today, Mahmoud is set to spend 217 days in prison, “pending investigation,” all because he was wearing a scarf commemorating the revolution.

Mahmoud’s case brings to light several issues, foremost among which is the Protest Law, and the use of provisional detention as a penalty in its own right. That same provisional detention is being used to keep hundreds of activists behind bars, including most recently 23 people detained from around the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace on June 21, including seven women and a minor. They will spend the whole summer in prison, pending investigation, as their next court session has been set to September 13, even though they are being tried on a misdemeanor. 

Mahmoud has already been in jail for close to six months. He is an 18-year-old student. He should be in school, not in prison. When not in school, he should be playing with his friends, or reading, or listening to music, or peacefully protesting if he wishes to, which is a right granted to him under the Egyptian constitution. He and many others are paying a hefty price for believing in the revolution and standing by its principles. And they are paying the price pending investigation.