CAIRO: The Dahaya Center for Human Rights and the Democratic Front Party are organizing a mass rally today at the Institute of Legal Professions in Alexandria in solidarity with detained Sinai novelist and blogger Musaad Aboul Fagr.
Ahmed Ragheb, Aboul Fagr’s attorney and activist from the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, said, “I am going to participate in the rally today and I am giving a speech, we are trying to file a request to all concerned authorities to release him.
Aboul Fagr, whose real name is Musaad Suliman, is a novelist and founder of the Sinai-based movement Wedna Na’ish (We Want to Live). He was arrested in 2007 following demonstrations in Al-Arish.
Aboul Fagr’s arrest aimed to derail a proposed sit-in, as he often is the driving force behind the protests. His movement seeks to attain equal rights for Sinai Bedouins.
Aboul Fagr was charged with “inciting protests and resisting the authorities, with an administrative detention order issued by the Minister of the Interior under the emergency law.
According to his lawyers, he is frequently being moved from one detention center to another. He was recently transferred to Abu Zabal Prison near Alexandria after going on a hunger strike, protesting against mistreatment.
“Whenever we succeed in obtaining a judicial release order, the Ministry of Interior fails to apply it, detaining him illegally for several days until a new administrative detention order is issued by the interior ministry, Ragheb said.
In late July, Amnesty International called on President Hosni Mubarak to order an immediate and unconditional release of Aboul Fagr and all prisoners of conscious.
Gamal Eid, executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), said, “[Aboul Fagr’s detainment] is unjustifiable and there are so many reputable United Nations organizations putting his case on their agendas.
