Egypt’s MB Students Hunted, Campaign to Release Prisoners

Ahmed Mandour, the Muslim Brotherhood student leader in Al-Azhar University said that a number of his colleagues are hunted by the security forces in order to arrest them, while a number of observers think it is difficult to foresee when the detainees will be released, excluding that they will appear before trials.
It is worth mentioning that the Egyptian security services arrested a number of university students after the Muslim Brotherhood students staged a paramilitary performance last December in the campus, to be followed by detentions in the lines of the group and a statement from president Hosni Mubarak in which he considered the Muslim Brotherhood a threat to the national security of the country.
Mandour told Aljazeera.net that the state security officer in the university, Hisham Abdul Moneim, visited the students who are currently detained in Torah prison and” vowed to eradicate the MB students in Al-Azhar university”, and ” vowed to throw their other colleagues behind bars”. He added that the security services tried to arrest a student in the Faculty of Pharmacy while getting out of the exam, but he jumped from the building and escaped.
He pointed out that the security services have a list of the wanted students,” as these services haven’t stopped short of arresting all university students in Al-Safa dormitory, but the repression included cordoning and sealing off all the university dormitory aiming at arresting other students”. Mandour confirmed these services continue attempting to kidnap students while there are many plain-clothes officers deployed inside the dormitory” to arrest specific students”.
Shutting down…Giving residence
Mandour said that the latest attempt was shutting down halls allocated for committing the prayers in every building, and giving residence to a number of unknown students in the city”, leading to spreading panic among students”.
Hazem Mousa– an Al-Azhar MB student- said that the security manhunts that spread panic among students, specially that they come while all student activities are suspended and the mid-term exams are underway, making the students in a very bad psychological state.


The students have launched an international media campaign, aiming at releasing their colleagues, under the slogan” Don’t destroy their future twice…Sportive Performance of Al-Azhar students… or Ain Shams Bullies “, referring to several thugs storming into Ain Shams University and their beating Free Union students during the last term.
“The campaign received statements of solidarity from many organizations like the free public union of Algerian students and the National Union of Morocco students; also, the International Islamic Federation of Student Organizations (IIFSO) sent a statement in which it demanded immediately releasing Al-Azhar students” said Mandour.


For his part, the expert in Al-Ahram Center for political and strategic studies, Amr Al Shobki, said that it is difficult to predict when the students will be released, adding that” there are no rules for arresting and even for releasing opposition detainees “, confirming to Aljazeera.net Net that “the students committed a mistake with their paramilitary parade, but they aren’t affiliated to any militant; so, they should be released “.
Defense
He sees that” Holding the students behind bars is a part of the regime’s conflict against the Muslim Brotherhood aiming at, not eradicating, but making them always under pressure and defense”.
For his part, the manager of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, Gamal Eid, expected that the students won’t be released in the near future,” because the country confronted the crisis sharply and it will exploit the provisional detention against them till it legally expires”, but he ruled out in his interview with Aljazeera.net that the students will appear before trials, pointing out to that “there is no clear charge against them; what the students did was a sportive performance and they can’t be tried through interpreting this performance as a military organization; any court will acquit them”.
Eid ironically described Al-Azhar University president Ahmed Al Tayyeb as “an employee in the Interior Ministry ranked a University President”, while Al Shobaki ruled out that Al Tayyeb may be relieved of his post because of his statements in which he backed the security forces flagrant exercises of storming into the university and arresting the students and his calling them” stray sheep”.


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