Egyptian Social Democratic party
Calls were made on Twitter Monday night demanding the release of three students who had been arrested after taking pictures of a protest inside Assiut University.
Mahmoud Rashad, Mohamed Al-Semary and Islam Al-Badry were detained after taking pictures of a protest by girls living in the university’s student housing who were objecting to price rises. Student housing security took issue with the presence of the three and the police were called.
A number of students went to the police station to demand their release. Among them was Ahmed Abdel-Kereem, who said the police told them the matter was out of their hands and that the students were being held because of a complaint filed against them by the Head of Assiut University.
The three detained were released at midday Tuesday but their file has been referred to the public prosecutor. The prosecutor will investigate the possibility of laying three charges against them; illegal photography, assaulting security and trying to break into the female student housing, according to a statement released by the Egyptian Social Democratic Party (ESDP), of which two of the three are members. The ESDP also said the three had not entered the student housing and that Al-Badry had been injured during his arrest.
Abdel-Kareem said, “the three are committed students, who’ve been part of the revolution since day one.”
The initial protest that the students had gone to photograph was about an increase in monthly lodging fees at the female student housing.
