Members of the recently formed Detained Youth Committee met on Saturday in their first meeting and reviewed the first list submitted by the semi-governmental National Council for Human Rights (NCHR) and the parliamentary Human Rights Committee, according to member of parliament Tarek El-Khouly.
El-Khouly, who is also a member of the Foreign Affairs Committee, said during their first session that the committee reviewed complaints received from some rights organisations and families. They also studied the previous presidential pardon announced by the Interior Ministry.
The committee confirmed that it will continue its work in coordination with the Interior Ministry to check the conditions of detained youth in pretrial detention.
The committee previously decided to start its work with the issue of detained students in order to help them continue their studies, then women and detainees arrested on charges that contradict freedom of opinion and expression.
Committee members previously explained that it will only look into the conditions of pretrial detainees arrested in cases related to freedom of expression, and not arrested in violent cases.
The Detained Youth Committee was created a few days after the state-sponsored National Youth Conference. It was decided upon by the president following calls made by prominent politician Osama Al-Ghazaly Harb to release detainees in cases related to freedom of expression.
