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A group of Egyptian political groups have declared their solidarity with an open-ended sit-in being held at prosecution authority headquarters in Cairo by the mother and sister of jailed sibling activists Alaa and Sanaa Abdel-Fattah.
The leftist-leaning Constitution Party and Bread and Freedom Party both vowed to support Cairo University professor Laila Soueif and activist Mona Seif, who began their open-ended sit-in one day earlier to demand the release of the two activists, along with others imprisoned under Egypt's controversial protest law.
In statements issued separately, both parties vowed to provide legal support for the detained activists.
The Civil Alternative Party, which supports ousted elected president Mohamed Morsi, also announced its solidarity with the family, saying the latter "had paid – and continue to pay – a high price for defending human rights in Egypt."
The Egyptian Revolutionary Council, founded by Egyptians living abroad as an opposition body to the military-backed government, also declared solidarity with the detained activists and their relatives' sit-in.
Seif, who says she and her mother have escalated their 66-day hunger strike by refraining from drinking water for the third day in a row, said on Facebook that she and Soueif had – despite pressure by security forces – spent the night at prosecution headquarters in Cairo.
She also said that a number of Interior Ministry officials had approached them last night and asked them to end their sit-in.
"We will continue our strike; we will not leave until Egyptian youth who have been unjustly imprisoned by the protest law are released," Soueif, a Cairo University professor, told Anadolu Agency.
On Monday, an Egyptian court ordered the detention of Alaa Abdel-Fattah – a symbol of Egypt's 2011 uprising – along with 25 others, at the first session of their retrial, in which they stand accused of "illegal protest."
One day earlier, another court sentenced Abdel-Fattah's younger sister, Sanaa, along with 22 activists, to three years each on similar charges. The Cairo Misdemeanor Court, which issued the verdict, also fined the activists 10,000 Egyptian pounds (roughly $1,400) each.
Egypt's protest law has come under fire since it was approved last November. The legislation, issued by former military-backed interim president Adly Mansour, demands that protest organizers submit written notification to the Interior Ministry three days before staging a demonstration.
The law gives the ministry the right to deny organizers permission if the planned demonstration is deemed a "threat to security or public safety" or if security conditions are found to be "inappropriate."
The law also authorizes security forces to use force to disperse demonstrators.
According to the law, violators can either be fined or imprisoned – penalties that have provoked the ire of many Egyptian politicians and activists who say the legislation curbs freedoms and gives police free rein to crack down on expressions of political dissent.
The Egyptian authorities continue to deny that any political detainees currently face prosecution, insisting that all those now being held face criminal charges.
By Islam Mosaad
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire
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