A few hundred students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) called for the immediate release of their detained colleague Ibrahim Tamer on Wednesday.
Security forces arrested Tamer, popularly known among his friends as Bebo, from the airport on Apr. 24 as he was on his way to a Spring Break trip to Greece.
Hundreds of students marched in solidarity with their detained colleague Ibrahim Tamer, Bebo, on May 4th, 2016 (ASWAT MASRIYA/Jihad Abaza)
The stand at AUC was also organised “to assert that freedom of expression and freedom of speech are not crimes,” Tamer’s sister Lojain told Aswat Masriya.
Tamer’s detention was part of a widespread campaign of arrests that Egyptian police forces undertook before protests on Apr 25, which were organised against Egypt’s transfer of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.
Police arrested at least 270 protesters on Apr 25, amid protests, a security source previously told Aswat Masriya.
With “Free Bebo” shirts, flyers, and banners, students marched throughout the AUC’s new campus in the fifth settlement on the outskirts of Cairo, chanting against the systematic detention of fellow students.
Tamer is charged with “attempting to overthrow the regime, inciting violence, and disrupting the enforcement of the constitution and law.”
He is also charged with attempting to escape from the country with a “large amount of money”. His sister explained, however, that “he had booked his non-refundable two-way ticket in late February, two months before the events,” adding that “he only had 1000 Euros.”
The accusations, Lojain said, “are too broad and not true.”
“Just to show the kind of person Ibrahim is; he asked for primary English textbooks and is teaching cellmates English basics,” Lojain said, adding “He is someone full of hope and energy, not the person they are trying to frame as a violence inciter.”
