Hassan Ibrahim / DNE
Detained political activist Alber Saber was deprived of a visit from family and friends on Saturday as Tora prison officials wrongly transferred him to Abbasiya prosecution. Prison and prosecution officials failed to process documents indicating Saber had previously been referred to court, which led to the error.
“We entered the prison to visit Alber when we suddenly heard him shouting from inside a prisoner transport vehicle saying he was being taken away and did not know why,” said Amir Taky, Saber’s friend and coordinator of the Free Alber campaign.
A policeman told Taky that Saber was being taken to the Abbasiya prosecution to have his 15-day detention renewed. When Taky informed him that Saber had already been to court and that his trial was postponed to 17 October the policeman displayed ignorance of the matter.
“We followed Alber to the Abbasiya prosecution office and I told the prosecutor about Alber being taken to court. He checked his papers and saw that I was right and said that it was a mistake and that they hadn’t processed the court papers,” said Taky.
Saber’s lawyer, Ahmed Ezzat, a member of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, said that this was just an administrative error and that he did not believe it was intentional.
“This is just a small error. Prison officials followed the prosecution orders because they did not know about Alber being referred to court,” Ezzat said.
Taky said Saber would go to Al-Marg Misdemeanour Court on Sunday to get the matter clarified.
“This was not intentional but it is negligence on the part of the Abbasiya prosecutor Sherif Shaarawy,” he said.
