DAUGHTER OF MORSI’S AIDE RELEASED AFTER 96 DAYS HUNGER STRIKE

Cairo, 23 Shawwal 1435/19 Agustus 2014 (MINA) – Karima Al-Seirfy, daughter of a former aide to ousted President Mohamed Morsi, Ayman Al-Seirfy, has been released from Al-Qanater prison in Cairo after 96 days on hunger strike.

According to the Anadolu news agency, the Cairo administrative prosecution ordered Karima’s release yesterday (18/8).

Karima, 18, is an undergraduate student at Al-Azhar University and a student activist, Middle East Monitor (MEMO) quoted by Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA) as reporting.

She was arrested at her home on March 19, when police forces stormed into the apartment where she lived alone in Heliopolis.

Heavily armed security forces broke into the apartment, smashed the door, and stole all her personal belongings, including jewellery, television, mobile phone and clothes.

Her family said she, and a number of her fellow student detainees, have been assaulted by other prisoners and prison guards, and that she has sustained injuries all over her body as a result.

From the time Mohamed Morsi was elected as president of Egypt there were continuous protests. This timeline documents these protests. On 22 November 2012, tens of thousands of protesters started to demonstrate against president Mohamed Morsi,after Morsi’s government announced a temporary constitutional declaration that in effect granted the president unlimited powers.

Morsi deemed the decree necessary to protect the elected constituent assembly from a planned dissolution by judges appointed during the Mubarak-era.

The demonstrations were organized by Egyptian opposition organizations and individuals, mainly liberals, leftists, secularists and Christians. The demonstrations have resulted in violent clashes between Morsi-supporters and the anti-Morsi protesters, with dozens of deaths and hundreds of injuries.

The anti-Morsi protesters in Cairo were estimated at 200,000, while over 100.000 supporters of Morsi gathered in Cairo to show support. A number of Morsi’s advisers resigned in protest, and many judges spoke out against his actions as well. Resignations were tendered by the director of state broadcasting, Rafik Habib (Christian vice president of the Muslim Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party), and Zaghloul el-Balshi (general secretary of the commission overseeing the planned constitutional referendum). Seven members of Morsi’s 17-member advisory panel resigned in December 2012.(T/Nidiya/P04)

Mi’raj Islamic News Agency (MINA)