The Ministry of Interior said in its daily press briefing on Monday that 113,497 were arrested in April alone.
The arrested are allegedly fugitives from 668,658 verdicts issued in April, according to the ministry. Those verdicts include 16 death sentences, 726 life sentences, as well as 404 fines issued in the business sector.
These figures comprise only 0.1% of the number of verdicts mentioned in the statement. The ministry did not elaborate on the nature of the other verdicts.
However, the number of those arrested is considered very high compared to the ministry’s census of arrests in recent months and over the past year.
Hundreds were arrested in April on charges of protesting and inciting for protests, amid nationwide security raids to public places, homes, and cafes.
The anti-government protests were mainly prompted by a recent maritime demarcation deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia that transfers the sovereignty of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia.
Two waves of protests on 15 April and 25 April decried the aforementioned decision and called for the fall of the government.
Police dispersed protesters with force in Cairo and other governorates, followed by the random arrest of bystanders without any follow-up investigations, according to numerous testimonies in a statement issued by Democracy Indicator on Tuesday.
At least 6,733 people were arrested in 2015 on charges related to allegedly belonging to the outlawed Muslim Brotherhood group, according to the ministry’s reports that Daily News Egypt has aggregated.
The first six months of 2015 witnessed the largest number of arrests and the total is estimated to be nearly 4,000 people. The numbers rose particularly during the period following the appointment of current Minister of the Interior Magdy Abdel Ghaffar, according to the announced reports.
