Three students in Assiut University were arrested on Wednesday following a protest over the sovereignty transfer of the Tiran and Sanafir islands.
The students, who belong to the Bread and Freedom Party, the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, and the 6 April Youth Movement, were taken from the university campus to a police station. They are being held there pending a prosecution session, expected on Thursday, according to eyewitnesses and friends of the students.
Another group of students from Ain Shams University were briefly detained, also on Wednesday, following a similar protest. The three female students were released after being held briefly by the university’s administrative security, according to the Freedom for the Brave campaign.
Another similar arrest was made on Tuesday night as police arrested political activist Yasser El-Qott over distributing leaflets calling for demonstrations on 25 April, according to Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression’s (AFTE) lawyer Mokhtar Mounir.
The arrests come amid widening public dissent over the Egyptian-Saudi agreement to demarcate the maritime borders, which saw the transfer of the two islands to Saudi authority.
Nationwide demonstrations erupted on Friday against President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and his government, after he announced the signing of the maritime border agreement with Saudi King Salman bin Abdul Aziz earlier this month.
Dozens were detained for the Friday protests, while calls for demonstrations were renewed for 25 April, which coincides with Sinai Liberation Day.
