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The family of hunger-striking detainee Mohamed Sultan has appealed to the U.S. administration to intervene to secure his release from an Egyptian prison.
"We call on the U.S. government to intervene to secure the release of Mohamed Sultan," the family said in a statement issued Monday.
The family claimed that Sultan, who holds dual Egypt-U.S. nationality, was being held without charge.
Sultan is accused – along with 51 co-defendants, including Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie – of forming what came to be known as the "Rabaa Operations Room" during a sit-in last year staged by supporters of ousted president Mohamed Morsi.
Egyptian authorities accuse Sultan and his co-defendants of steering the actions of the Muslim Brotherhood, the group from which Morsi hails, with the ultimate aim of challenging state authorities.
Last week, an emaciated Sultan arrived to court in an ambulance from which he was carried into the courtroom on a hospital stretcher.
Sultan has been on a hunger strike since January 26 to protest his ongoing detention. He was recently admitted to hospital after a marked deterioration of his health condition.
Sultan was arrested from his home in August of last year after security forces violently dispersed two pro-Morsi protest camps, killing hundreds of demonstrators in the process.
Before his arrest, Sultan had been an active member of the "Anti-Coup Alliance," a component of the pro-Morsi National Alliance for the Defense of Legitimacy.
Since the army ousted Morsi – Egypt's first freely elected president and a Muslim Brotherhood leader – Egypt's military-backed government has waged a harsh crackdown on political dissent that has left hundreds dead and thousands behind bars.
By Hussein Qabani
englishnews@aa.com.tr
www.aa.com.tr/en - Kahire
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