13 May
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) condemns the arrest of
students Ziad Mohamed Bassiouni and Mazen Ahmed Draz, who were arrested four days
ago and taken to an unknown location. AFTE calls on the Egyptian authorities to release the
two students immediately and enable their families and lawyers to communicate with them.
It also calls on the Public Prosecution to investigate the violation of law by the security
services.
On Thursday, 9 May 2024, a police force raided Bassiouni’s house, searched it, damaged its
contents, and assaulted those who were present there. Then, the force arrested Bassiouni, in
his third year at the Academy of Arts, from a nearby street and took him to an unknown
location.
A day earlier, Draz, a student at the Faculty of Medicine at Mansoura University, was
arrested from inside a public place in Mansoura and taken to an unknown place.
The two students were arrested for creating – in collaboration with a number of other
students from different universities – a Facebook page titled “Students for Palestine.” They
released a statement expressing solidarity with the Palestinian people over the genocidal
war and ethnic cleansing they have been facing for seven months.
The arrest of the two students is a continuation of the security crackdown that has been
targeting those who express solidarity with Palestine since the beginning of the war in
October last year. The Egyptian authorities confiscate the constitutionally guaranteed rights
of citizens to express their rejection of the war on Gaza freely. The security services arrested
at least 122 people for voicing solidarity with the Palestinian cause in many ways, most of
whom are still detained until now.
AFTE asserts that the suppression of students' right to express their views, organize
themselves, and practice their activities comes within the framework of the security
crackdown on university students since 2013. Thousands of students have since been
imprisoned, dismissed from universities, and subjected to disciplinary sanctions. Moreover,
a ban on student activism is still in effect.
AFTE warns against holding Bassiouni and Draz in prolonged pretrial detention on the usual
charges the Supreme State Security Prosecution used to level at defendants, as
with most prisoners of conscience. It stresses that any prolonged detention of the two
students will seriously jeopardize the future of their educational careers, especially as their
end-of-year exams are approaching. Therefore, AFTE calls on the Egyptian authorities to
reveal the whereabouts of the two students and release them immediately. It also holds the
Ministry of Interior fully responsible for their safety.
