By Menna Zaki
Egyptian-American activist Mohamed Sultan, who has been detained since August 2013 for participating in the sit-in at Rabaa-Al Adaweya Square supporting former president Mohamed Morsi, sent a video to the US government in order to draw attention to his detention conditions in an Egyptian prison since the dispersal.
According to Sultan, before his arrest, he was “documenting crimes against justice, humanity and democracy in Egypt”. He has been on an open-ended hunger strike since 26 January as an appeal to the US government to intervene.
Sultan addressed US President Barack Obama in his video, stating that the US government had sent a chartered airplane in 2012 to US citizens who were detained in Egypt at the time. He added that “with Obama’s continued silence” concerning Sultan’s detention, the president is “making a statement regarding discrimination between Americans”.
Al-Jazeera photojournalist Abdullah Elshamy, who was detained while covering the dispersal of the Rabaa sit-ins on 14 August, has also been on a hunger strike since 21 January 2014 in protest against his detention.
Accordingly, a petition titled “Stop the Death of Abdullah Al Shamy and Mohamed Sultan” was sent by the international community to the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt, appealing for the release of both ElShamy and Sultan.
Mohamed Sultan is the son of Salah Sultan, Cairo University professor, former Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs and a prominent Muslim Brotherhood member, who was also detained last September while attempting to travel to Sudan.
