Some 179 detained supporters of deposed president Mohamed Morsi have gone on hunger strike, lawyer Ali Kamal said late Friday. The Muslim Brotherhood lawyer said Morsi supporters who are detained in a Cairo prison have announced a hunger strike in protest at “ill treatment.” They claim that other prisoners in the jail are being incited to attack them. On Saturday, Mostafa Baz, assistant minister of interior for the prison service sector, denied the news. He said there aren’t any hunger strikes in any of the country’s prisons. Many pro-Morsi demonstrators were arrested in the wake of recent clashes. Egypt’s general prosecution opened investigations into two major incidents last month. On 8 July, at least 53 people were killed, mainly civilians, when pro-Morsi protesters clashed with the armed forces at the Republican Guard Club in Cairo. Similarly, last week 80 civilians were killed and hundreds injured, mostly pro-Morsi protesters, when clashes with the police broke out at the Monument of the Unknown Soldier in Cairo’s Nasr City district. The ousted president’s supporters, led by the Muslim Brotherhood, have been staging protests and sit-ins nationwide calling for his reinstatement. The Ministry of Interior has issued warnings calling on them to disperse and guaranteeing a “safe exit.” So far, they have remained defiant. Morsi was deposed by the army 3 July amid unprecedented mass nationwide protests against him.
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