CAIRO: Students at the Higher Institute of Cinema held a peaceful day protest against the arrest of a fellow student by the armed forces in front of the Giza Security Directorate.
Fady Mostafa Al-Saeed, 19, was one of the 19 accused of causing riots, attempting to break into the Giza Security Directorate and setting a number of police cars on fire.
Al-Saeed was allegedly arrested on his way to work, which is very close to the security directorate. He was taken afterwards to the military prosecution for investigations and moved to Tora Prison on the same day.
Al-Saeed informed Hatem Shedid, his production manager at United News International, of his arrest.
Shedid told Daily News Egypt that he tried to talk to the officer accompanying Al-Saeed to explain that he is not connected to the incidents and was on his way to work.
The officer informed Shedid that Al-Saeed would be released within 15 minutes after a routine investigation.
Shedid said he then called Al-Saeed every five minutes until he was unable to reach him anymore.
“I didn’t know anything about him until the next morning from the news,” he said.
Al-Saeed’s mother told DNE that they were informed of their son’s arrest by a police officer whom Al-Saeed gave his father’s number to.
Al-Saeed’s father attempted to appeal to the military prosecution but was informed that his son was already being held for 15 days pending investigations.
Al-Saeed’s mother told DNE that the military and state security prosecution gave contradictory statements, each claiming that her son was held at the other.
“We do not know where he is, we are not able to speak to him nor contact him,” his mother, Samia Al-Alfy, said. “We are facing the impossible.”
Aya Al-Adl, Al-Saeed’s colleague at the institute, told DNE that the students managed to issue a statement under the institute’s name signed by the students and the dean stating that Al-Saeed is a well-mannered student and that he was in fact on his way to work.
The Cinematic Professions Institute also signed a similar statement. Both statements were sent to the military prosecution by the lawyers.
“We are trying to deliver our message in the most peaceful and calm way,” Al-Saeed’s friend Bassem Saad Al-Din told DNE.
