CAIRO: The Sixth of October City prosecutor extended on Monday the detention of Al-Jazeera.net correspondent Badr Mohamed Badr for 15 more days pending investigation, Badr’s wife Azza Al-Garf told Daily News Egypt Wednesday.
“A police truck carried my husband Badr … to the prosecution office Monday, and the prosecutor ordered that he [remain] in custody without interrogating him or allowing me to see him,” Al-Garf stated. Badr was not allowed to see his lawyer either, she added.
According to Al-Garf, Badr was supposed to appear before the prosecutor on Wednesday, not Monday.
“When [Badr appeared] early, we thought that he would be released,” Al-Garf said.
On Nov. 24, the authorities arrested Badr at his home and allegedly confiscated his computer over some stories he was planning to publish.
Badr has been accused of being a member of the banned Muslim Brotherhood (MB) group, of promoting MB ideologies, and of having MB leaflets in his possession.
Al-Garf stated that police forces seized LE 70,000 and $10,000 from the house without providing her with any documentation that could later prove that the money they seized belongs to her family.
One day later, the prosecutor ordered that Badr be remanded for 15 days as the investigation progressed.
Both Badr and Al-Garf are members of the MB, according to Al-Garf.
Al-Garf tried to run in the People’s Assembly (PA) elections under the women’s quota as a MB-affiliated independent candidate for the Sixth of October City constituency. However, Al-Garf, who is also a journalist, was allegedly not allowed by the authorities to present her candidacy documentation even though she had already acquired a court order enabling her to apply.
“My husband was arrested because I continued calling for my right of [PA candidacy nomination] … and because I was granted court orders to allow me to nominate myself as a PA candidate. Yet these court orders were [never implemented],” Al-Garf said.
