Egypt orders detention of lawyer who helped family of murdered student
Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the detention of a lawyer who helped the family of an Italian graduate found tortured to death during a police crackdown in Cairio.
Ibrahim Metwally was accused by the supreme state security prosecution of disseminating false news and “dealing with foreign parties”. He was detained for 15 days.
The lawyer, who founded the Association for the Families of the Disappeared, was also suspected of having set up an illegal group, officials said.
Mr Metwally was arrested at Cairo International Airport three days ago while travelling to Geneva to speak at a United Nations meeting on enforced disappearances.
He is now being held in Cairo’s Tora Prison complex pending investigations.
The lawyer provided legal services to the family of Giulio Regeni, 28, an Italian researcher who disappeared on January 25 last year in Cairo and was later found tortured to death.
Egypt has faced accusations that one of its security services murdered the student, but Cairo denied any involvement.
At the time of his death, Regeni was researching trade unions – a sensitive topic in the country.
The Italian’s murder led to a diplomatic crisis that led Italy to recall its ambassador, although it has since said its envoy will take up his post again.
Rights groups accuse the Egyptian government of arbitrary arrests and enforced disappearances of dissidents, which rose sharply after the military overthrew Islamist president Mohammed Morsi in 2013.
The government disputes the allegations.
The Italian’s murder led to a diplomatic crsis that led Italy to recall its ambassador