AI: Free Facebook activists

2008-07-26 22:43

Cairo - Amnesty International on Saturday urged Egyptian authorities to release a group of young government critics arrested during a protest in the coastal city of Alexandria.

About 30 activists calling for political reform and the release of political detainees were taken into custody on Wednesday as they waved Egyptian flags and sang national songs on the beach.

A State prosecutor has ordered 14 of the activists held for 15 days on preliminary charges that include inciting the regime's overthrow, a police official said.

Amnesty said two additional activists were arrested on Wednesday and that their whereabouts were unknown. The rights group said the two could be at risk of torture.

"Amnesty believes all 16 to be prisoners of conscience, detained for their participation in the protest," the group said in a statement.

Facebook

The detainees are members of the so-called April 6 group, which emerged through the social networking website Facebook.

The group's name refers to its call for a general strike in Egypt on April 6.

Authorities blamed the group's internet call for three days of clashes between security forces and workers in an industrial Nile Delta city.

The group had supported the workers' strike over deteriorating economic conditions and price hikes.

More than 70 000 people have joined the group's Facebook site, but it is unclear how many of them are active members.

The group's founders are mostly former members of the Ghad, or Tomorrow, liberal political party led by Ayman Nour, who ran against President Hosni Mubarak in the 2005 presidential election.

Nour is serving a five-year prison sentence after being convicted of forgery.

Under emergency laws in place for 27 years, gatherings of more than five people are illegal, and the government has broad powers to detain suspects.

- AP