CAIRO: An activist who has been held in administrative detention for two years was summoned for interrogation this week, rights group the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC) said.
Mosaad Abu Fagr was called from his cell in the Abu Zaabal Prison for questioning in connection with an incident which took place in El-Masoura two years ago, when demonstrators in Sinai protested the death of 14-year-old Awda Arafat, killed while security bodies were breaking up an earlier demonstration.
“Abu Fagr was questioned without the presence of his lawyer. This is not the first time that his lawyers have been prevented from contacting him; Abu Zaabal Prison authorities previously prevented lawyers from visiting him, HMLC says in a statement.
Abu Fagr, who local and international rights groups regard as a prisoner of conscience, was arrested on Dec. 26, 2007, together with fellow Bedouin rights activist Yahya Abu Nasira.
According to Abu Fagr’s wife writing on his ‘Wedna Na’eesh’ (We Want to Live) blog, over 14 release orders have been issued since the blogger was detained. The Ministry of Interior has ignored all of them.
Wedna Na’eesh says that writers recently called on Culture Minister Farouk Hosni to intervene in order to secure Abu Fagr’s release, during the Writers of Egypt conference in Alexandria, which concluded on Monday.
