Egypt detains university student in seventh terrorism case

The Egyptian Supreme State Security Prosecution decided yesterday to put university student Abdullah Amer on trial in a new case even though he is already in prison. This is the seventh such case that he has faced since his arrest in 2017.

Amer faces charges of “joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its objectives, financing, preparing and organising terrorist crimes, and participating in a criminal agreement.” These are the same charges that were brought against him in the previous six cases, four of which he was acquitted in.

The student is being held pending a 15-year prison sentence for the same charges related to joining a terrorist group. He was surprised when he was summoned from his cell on 26 August to be questioned by prosecutors in connection with the new case. After questioning and detaining him, the prosecutors decided yesterday to refer him for trial along with others in this case, even though he has already been in detention for seven years.

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The student was arrested on 6 April, 2017, and was forcibly disappeared for 42 days, appearing at the State Security Prosecution headquarters for the first time in the first case on 18 May. During his forced disappearance, he was subjected to physical and psychological torture, intimidation and general ill-treatment.

In August, the Article 55 Coalition organisations condemned the phenomenon of such recurring arrests or renewed arrests in Egypt, saying that it has become one of the methods and tools used by the Egyptian authorities to suppress political opponents. This has been described as Egypt’s “revolving doors” detention policy.

“It is a nightmare that shatters the hopes of detainees and eliminates their chance of being freed from imprisonment or of smoothly re-integrating into society,” said the coalition. “It is also a crime that violates many basic human rights, the most important of which is the right to freedom.”

The Article 55 Coalition includes the Committee for Justice (CFJ), El Shehab Centre for Human Rights (SHR), Egyptian Network for Human Rights, We Record, and the Arab Foundation for Civil and Political Rights-Nidal.

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