Activist Gamal Abd El-Fattah was arrested Friday when he was mistakenly identified as a man who was convicted in absentia on charges of having attempted to organise a coup d’état against the government of President Al-Sisi.
Abd El-Fattah was detained in front of the Press Syndicate in Downtown, Cairo
According to Madiha El-Malwany, Abd El-Fattah’s partner, Abd El-Fattah appeared in Sayeda Zainab police station facing a verdict issued five years ago in absentia related to an alleged a coup d’état attempt.
However, civil rights lawyer Mokhtar Amin said that Abd El-Fattah was arrested because his name is similar to the defendant in the coup d’état charge.
According to the privately owned publication Al-Bedaiah, Amin said that the arrest is a misunderstanding and Abd El-Fattah will be released Saturday.
Abd El-Fattah has previously been an outspoken critic of the Egyptian government. He was one of the leaders in the 1977 Bread Riots where he was arrested along with several intellectuals and activists.
Abdel El-Fattah has been arrested for his political actions during the presidencies of Abdel Nasser, Al-Sadat and Mubarak. From 2006-2008, he participated in the Kefaya (Enough) movement that denounced Hosni Mubarak’s alleged attempts to bequeath the presidency to his son, Gamal Mubarak.
