Lawyers Wafaa al-Masry and Mohamed Aboul Diyar and pharmacist Hanan Tantawy are being investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of “publishing false news,” defense lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr on Monday.
The prosecution ordered Aboul Diyar remain held in remand for 15 days, pending investigations into the same offense and additional charges of “joining a terrorist group” and “misusing social media platforms,” Genady added. Tantawy and Masry were released on LE50,000 bail.
All three were arrested from their homes on Monday morning, according to lawyers and human rights advocates who described the arrests as part of ongoing security scrutiny following a campaign event held earlier this month to call for the release of prisoners.
Genady told Mada Masr that they were all questioned by authorities regarding their membership in the Committee to Defend Prisoners of Conscience, an Egyptian advocacy and legal support initiative campaigning for the release of prisoners held in cases tied to freedom of expression or political activism.
Authorities also questioned them on Monday about their participation in the committee’s exhibition, “El-segn mish makanhom” (Prison is not their place), which was held on May 13 at the headquarters of the Bread and Freedom Party, Genady added.
The exhibition was met with immediate security pursuit, with several prisoners’ family members who had attended the event facing arrest immediately afterward, Elham Eidarous, the legal representative for founders of the Bread and Freedom Party, told Mada Masr. She said those detained at the time were released days later.
On Monday morning, plainclothes and uniformed security forces arrested Wafaa al-Massry from a chalet on the North Coast where she was staying with her nephew, his wife and their three children, lawyer Mahienour al-Masry, who is the niece of Wafaa, told Mada Masr.
The security personnel “confiscated the rest of the family’s phones and barred them from using them,” handing the phones to the compound’s security personnel and leaving the family unable to learn what had happened for several hours, Massry said, describing the incident as “terrorizing children.”
Aboul Diyar and Tantawy were both arrested at dawn by National Security Agency officers in Cairo’s Hadayeq al-Ahram area, said Genady.
Security forces stormed Aboul Diyar’s home to arrest him, while Tantawy was detained outside hers, according to the lawyer.
All three figures have played active roles in the committee and participated in facilitating its May exhibition in support of prisoners and their families, which featured photographs and videos related to people detained in political cases, as well as testimonies and speeches by relatives, politicians and rights advocates.
