(AFP PHOTO/KHALED KAMEL)
The Nasr City Misdemeanour Court postponed on Wednesday the trial of 14 Al-Azhar University students charged with protesting until 25 June.
Misr Al-Qawia member Yassin Sabry faces trial alongside 13 other students arrested since 12 January. The students are accused of protesting without notice, blocking the road and joining a banned organisation, according to Yasmina Ibrahim, a lawyer at the Al-Haqaniya Legal Centre.
Detained for over five months, the group of students’ detention has been renewed at least five times, Misr Al-Qawia’s spokesman Ahmed Imam said. The trial was postponed on Wednesday after the defendants failed to appear in court. Imam said the Ministry of Interior has prevented the defendants from attending the trial sessions two times before.
Sabry was arrested on his way to an exam last January. In a press statement released by Misr Al-Qawia Party on Tuesday, Imam called for Sabry’s “immediate” release.
Student protests have taken over Al-Azhar University since the start of the academic year in October, often associated with several arrests.
Twelve Al-Azhar students were sentenced to 17 years in prison in mid-November last year by the Cairo Misdemeanour Court for attacking Al-Azhar institutions.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released on Tuesday a report documenting students’ political activity since the January 2011 revolution. The report covers the different student groups active on university campuses.
It also showcases students’ activities against the rule of the Supreme Council of Armed Forces, which took over the state’s affair since the overthrow of former President Hosni Mubarak in February 2011 and until the election of ousted President Mohamed Morsi in June 2012. It tackles as well students’ protests against the Muslim Brotherhood during Morsi’s rule.
The report aims to “document” students’ activism during a period which stretched over two years, AFTE said
