From the Liveblog of
Monday, February 12, 2018
Egypt orders detention of prominent activist
Add ToI as a Preferred Source on GoogleAn Egyptian rights lawyer says the country’s prosecutors have ordered the detention for 15 days of a prominent activist pending investigations into charges that include joining a terrorist group and disseminating fake news.
Mokhtar Mounir tells The Associated Press that police forces arrested Mohamed el-Kassas, the deputy head of the Egyptian opposition party Misr al-Qawia, four days ago and raided his home in Cairo.
He says el-Kassas is being held in solitary confinement in Cairo’s sprawling Tora Prison complex. No trial date has been set.
It is the latest in a crackdown on opposition overseen by President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, who led the military’s 2013 ouster of Egypt’s first freely elected leader, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi. The crackdown has led to the imprisonment of tens of thousands of dissidents.
— AP
The Times of Israel Community.