MP Mohamed Anwar Sadat, who heads the Human Rights’ committee at the parliament, called on President Adel Fattah Al-Sisi to order the release of wrongfully detained youth so that they can spend that they can spend Ramadan at home.
In a Tuesday press statement, Sadat said that he hoped the Interior Ministry and concerned authortieis would be ordered to release those ‘uninvolved in cases of violence’, adding that “2016 was supposed to be the year of the youth, even if some differed with the government and expressed their opinions in an illegal way”.
“We ought to embrace the youth instead of ruining their future in prison. Their imprisonment along with criminals and extremists will turn them into people with new bad ideas, for which the state will pay the price,” Sadat said.
In April, the trial and imprisonment of hundreds of youth who protested against the Egypt-Saudi maritime borders’ demarcation of the Red Sea islands of Tiran and Sanafir raised wide criticism even among Al-Sisi’s supporters.
This week, several protesters were acquitted from charges. Last Friday, Al-Sisi promised that new presidential pardons would be issued for detained youth.
