Al-Qantarah El-Sharqiyya prosecution ordered the release of eight lawyers, who received arrest warrants on Friday for protesting without a permit in front of the Lawyers Syndicate on 23 April, following investigations.
On Friday evening, 12 lawyers received arrest warrants and were ordered to attend the prosecution on Saturday morning for investigation.
Shady Mahmoud, one of the eight lawyers, said that the prosecution released them after investigation on a EGP 2,000 bail. It was decided that the investigation session for the other four lawyers would be held on Tuesday.
The prosecution charged Mahmoud, and the other seven lawyers, of belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood. However, during the investigation Mahmoud stated that he had previously submitted a complaint against certain Brotherhood leaders, including Khairat Al-Shater.
According to state-run Al-Ahram, the prosecution has issued at least 47 arrest warrants against activists, journalists, and lawyers—including Malek Adly, a lawyer for the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights—for planning protests on 25 April without a permit.
Many young people, regardless of political affiliation, were randomly detained on charges of inciting illegal protests, belonging to a banned organisation, attempting to overthrow the regime, as well as promoting false news and information aimed at disturbing public order.
The Lawyers Syndicate has decided to legally represent detainees who were arrested during last Monday’s protests against the latest maritime demarcation deal that would see the transfer of Tiran and Sanafir islands’ sovereignty to Saudi Arabia.
Last week, several arrests were made by security forces against young people, journalists, and activists for protesting against the islands deal.
On Tuesday, two lawyers were assaulted by officers from Dokki police station as tensions escalated between lawyers and police over the arrests of protesters in Monday’s protests. Other officers prevented the lawyers from entering the station to attend investigations with detained protesters.
