The State Security Prosecution decided to detain 10 defendants for 15 days pending investigation in case No. 1277 of 2024. They are: (Ahmed Abdel Karim Mohamed Ahmed, Ahmed Sobhi Abdel Zaher Hassanein, Wael Ahmed El-Sayed Mohamed, Taher Gamal El-Din Abdel Razek El-Sayed, Mahmoud Abdel Hadi Abdel Meguid Gomaa, Mostafa Ahmed Ramadan Tawfik, Abdel Karim Magdy Abdel Karim Eissa, Mostafa Nasr Abdel Salam Ismail, Abdel Tawab Gomaa El-Sayed and Omar Mahmoud Osman Ahmed). It ordered their transfer to the 10th of Ramadan prison in Sharqia Governorate, in Egypt’s Delta.
The prosecution charged the defendants with participating in a terrorist group (an agitation movement) and publishing and broadcasting false news and statements, over the protest in which the defendants took part on the steps of the Journalists’ Syndicate yesterday, Wednesday.
Security forces had arrested ten of the protesters, including political activists Mohamed Awad and Mostafa Ahmed, hours after the end of the protest organised by the group (Journalists for Palestine), which has regularly organised such protests in support of Gaza since the start of this Ramadan, with the participation of a number of public figures, politicians and journalists. The protests were held under the slogan: “From Cairo, this is Gaza… An iftar of bread and water”.
Informed sources told Zawia3 that security forces are still waging a broad arrest campaign beyond the defendants referred to the prosecution this morning, while a number of political activists said that security agencies had phoned them throughout the day in an attempt to identify some of the new young faces at yesterday’s protest, expressing concern that the situation is deteriorating, that the matter remains open-ended and that the number of those detained cannot be counted now.
The protesters chanted slogans demanding a ceasefire, the opening of the Rafah crossing and the passage of aid to the Gaza Strip, as well as chants demanding the closure of the Israeli occupation’s embassy, the expulsion of the ambassador and the cancellation of the peace treaty, in addition to chants against Sinai businessman Ibrahim Al-Organi, owner of Hala Tourism Company, which is itself responsible for the Rafah crossing “coordination” arrangements, over the company’s role in exploiting the suffering of the people of the Gaza Strip and collecting thousands of dollars from Palestinians wishing to leave the Strip through the Rafah crossing, the land crossing between Egypt and occupied Palestine, according to participants in the protest.
Hala Tourism Company belongs to the Sons of Sinai group owned by Sinai businessman Ibrahim Al-Organi, one of whose companies took charge of reconstruction operations in the Gaza Strip as part of the USD 500 million initiative announced by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi in May 2021.
Commenting, Ahmed Attalla, executive director of the Egyptian Front for Rights and Freedoms, told Zawia3: “Since this morning, lawyers have faced obstruction in being allowed to attend with the defendants while they were brought before the prosecution”.
He continued: “We noticed a large number of transport vehicles arriving at the State Security Prosecution while we were there to attend the investigations, and there was extensive security at the prosecution, including female officers.” He added: We know that security forces have carried out other arrest campaigns over the past short period; some people were arrested and detained without investigation or being brought before the prosecution during the past period, and they will be brought before the prosecution today.
For his part, human rights lawyer Mokhtar Mounir confirmed that he attended with political activist Mostafa Ahmed this morning at the State Security Prosecution, at his client’s request, noting that he was able to attend with his client without obstruction.
Commenting on the security crackdown after the protest was broken up, Elham Eidarous, founders’ representative of the Bread and Freedom Party (under formation) and one of the participants in the protest, said that “the security agencies’ arrest of participants in the protest is unacceptable, and it is illogical to imagine that a massacre would take place in Gaza amid complete silence from Egyptians, without them moving to express their opinion, reject the genocide and demand that it stop; it is impossible for Egyptians to stand by as spectators to what is happening in Gaza”.
She pointed out that this is not the first time the security agencies have arrested protesters, as this happened before during last October’s demonstrations, in which a number of young people were arrested, some of whom have still not been released.
Eidarous continued that protests are entirely natural, especially since there is no development at the official and international level, adding: “Even the Security Council resolution has not been implemented so far”, and asking: What are they waiting for, and what is expected in the face of these crimes happening every day?!
This protest was part of the “Bread and Water” events, the fourth organised by journalists and activists since the start of Ramadan. It was supposed to be held the day before yesterday, Tuesday, before it was postponed in response to pressure the Egyptian authorities exerted on the Journalists’ Syndicate and participants, so that the event would not coincide with the inauguration ceremony of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi for a third term.
For his part, political and economic analyst Zohdy El-Shamy, head of the board of trustees of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, denounced in his remarks to us the security crackdown carried out by the Egyptian authorities after the protest on the steps of the Journalists’ Syndicate, pointing out that the protest was in solidarity with the besieged Palestinian people, who are living through famine and can find neither water nor food.
He explained that the protest had been scheduled for last Tuesday but was postponed to Wednesday in consideration of security concerns, adding: “But unfortunately we were surprised by the arrest of ten of the participants in the protest, adding to the earlier numbers from the first demonstrations immediately after the events”.
The head of the board of trustees of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party pointed out that what the security agencies did reveals a general tendency to reject demonstrations in support of Gaza, regardless of the emergence of chants that may be bothersome, objecting to some of what the participants did; in the end, the matter cannot lead to restricting participants’ right to express their opinion in this way and entering a new spiral of imprisoning young people because of their opinions and their enthusiasm for a national cause.
El-Shamy denounced the security crackdown, which comes in the wake of the so-called National Dialogue, one of whose supposed goals was a political opening, at the heart of which are the issues of freedoms and the right to demonstrate and express opinions, but unfortunately what happened reflects the regime’s real intentions.
He added: There is no welcome for the idea of demonstrating in general on the part of the Egyptian authorities, as they seek to curb demonstrations again by various means. The growing number of protesters compared with previous events, the repetition of demonstrations, and some slogans that created an awkward path for the authorities in one way or another, are all things that prompted the security agencies to decide to tighten their grip.
He continued: In the end, the general context for the authorities is not welcoming the right to demonstrate, and fear that these solidarity protests could turn into anti-government demonstrations amid the continued deterioration of the political and economic situation as well, one indicator of which was the Dekheila demonstration in Alexandria, a popular demonstration in which non-politicised citizens took part.
On Wednesday, activists and journalists took part in a demonstration at a symbolic Ramadan iftar of water, salt and bread in front of the Egyptian Journalists’ Syndicate, as a symbolic expression of sharing the suffering of the victims of the war the Israeli occupation army is waging on Gaza, and in condemnation of the policy of starving the Strip. Participants in the protest called on their country’s authorities to open the Rafah crossing to relieve Palestinians and bring aid into the Strip under the siege imposed, and also raised demands relating to the expulsion of the Israeli ambassador from Egypt and the complete severing of relations.
Last October, Egyptian security forces arrested 43 protesters in Tahrir Square who were condemning the Israeli occupation’s crimes in its war on Gaza. Egypt’s governorates had witnessed mass demonstrations that day in solidarity with Palestine and condemning the Israeli aggression on Gaza, at a semi-official call from President El-Sisi to demonstrate. But the demonstration that made security intervene and disperse it was the one that set out after Friday prayers from Al-Azhar Mosque to condemn the latest Israeli violations in the Gaza Strip. Protesters chanted slogans condemning the Israeli aggression, as well as chants supporting the 25 January revolution and rejecting the mandate. This demonstration also reached Tahrir Square, which led security forces to disperse it by force and close the entrances to Tahrir Square at the time.
