RELEASED ALEXANDRIA FEMALE PROTESTERS VOW 'NO RETREAT'

Cairo, 5 Safar 1435/8 December 2013 (MINA) – Alexandria’s released female protesters are vowing “no retreat” in their campaign against the ouster of elected president Mohamed Morsi.

“No retreat,” Aya Tareq, one of the girl protesters, told Anadolu Agency late Saturday following her release, as quoted by Mi’raj News Agenci (MINA).

Egyptian authorities released saturday evening 21 women and girls who had been held on charges of “illegal assembly and joining a banned group” – the latter charge a reference to the Muslim Brotherhood.

“All 21 female protesters have been released after the conclusion of all release procedures,” Gen. Naswer al-Abd, head of the Alexandria Criminal Investigation Department, told AA.

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An Egyptian court earlier today slapped suspended one-year jail terms against 14 female supporters and acquitted seven minors of charges against them.

Saturday’s verdict reverses an earlier ruling that sentenced 14 female protesters to 11 years in prison for “illegal assembly and joining a banned group.” “I will continue to demonstrate and protest until we defeat this coup,” a jubilant, tearful Esraa Gamal told AA, referring to the army’s July 3 ouster of Morsi.

“We will continue. No arrests or verdicts can break our will,” Alaa al-Iraqi said.

Salwa was happy she and her minor daughter Radwa have been released, insister neither of them was a Morsi supporter. “I never participated in any demonstration before,” she told AA after her release.

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“But from now on, we will participate in every single protest,” she said defiantly. (T/P09/P03)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA)