CAIRO: The Qena Appeals Court upheld the prosecution’s decision to detain 29 people accused of inciting riots in Nagaa Hammadi for 15 days pending investigations.
The group appealed to the Qena Court against their detention, but to no avail.
No one understands the reasons behind the court s decision, said Ishaq Ibrahim from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Riots broke out after gunmen sprayed a group of Coptic Christians leaving a local church after mass on Jan. 6, killing six Copts and one Muslim guard.
Riots took place starting the 7th when the people went to take their family members’ dead bodies from the hospital, said Ibrahim.
He added that on Jan. 8 and 9, a group of Muslims also went on a rampage, breaking shops, looting and burning them.
According to a report by EIPR, random arrests following the incident, where both Muslims and Christians were taken from places far from where the shootings, took place.
Ibrahim said that while the prosecution says that only 29 people are detained, it is likely that more people are detained.
A group of activists and bloggers en route to pay condolences to relatives of the Nagaa Hammadi victims were also briefly detained on Jan. 15. -Daily News Egypt
