By Safaa Abdoun
CAIRO: The Salafi Front is calling for a protest in front of the People’s Assembly (PA) Monday afternoon in commemoration of the anniversary of the fall of State Security.
The protest will demand trying the individuals behind this apparatus, which served the interests of ousted president Hosni Mubarak’s regime.
Last March, then Minister of Interior Mansour El-Essawi disbanded the state security apparatus, which was one of the demands of the January 25 revolution. However, “Homeland Security” was immediately formed, which many saw as a mere change in name.
People raided the headquarters of the agency, taking hold of documents. The agency was notorious for torture and other human rights abuses in the suppression of dissent against Mubarak’s 30-year rule.
“None of the people working in State Security have been held accountable or tried, the agency falling does not mean that the rights of the individuals who have been detained and tortured have fallen,” the Salafi Front said in a statement Sunday.
The Front also demanded, in its statement, the immediate release of all political detainees who are in custody on court rulings by the State Security Court or military courts.
“The protest will demand the release of Egyptian detainees around the world,” said Salafi Front spokesperson, Khaled Saeed, referring to detainees such as Omar Abdel Rahman, former leader of Al-Gamaa Al-Islamiya who is serving a life sentence in the US for plotting to attack the United Nation headquarters and other New York City landmarks.
In addition, they are demanding on all those banned from entering Egypt to be allowed in, such as Wagdy Ghonim, a radical Egyptian imam known for his anti-Semitic sermons.
Furthermore, they demanded an end to all military trials of civilians and releasing all detainees since the January 25 revolution.
The protest will take place in front of the PA as the Salafi Front calls on the elected body to hold the individuals behind the torture cases and human rights violations accountable for their offenses.
Samah Helal, head of the women’s committee in the Salafi Al-Nour Party, is planning to join the protest tomorrow. “A year on and justice has not yet been served,” she said.
“It is not about the body [state security], it is about the individuals in it, these people can’t be left free after all they have done in violations and offenses against the Egyptian people,” she explained.
