- EGYPT
- November 13, 2017
- 5 minutes read
Sisi Regime Violations of Nubians’ Rights Risk Eruption in Egypt’s South
The death of Nubian activist Gamal Sorour in Aswan Central Prison caused a wave of discontent in Nubian circles, which resulted in the disruption of a number of public facilities and services in the province after police used excessive force to disperse protesters.
Clashes erupted between dozens of Nubians and security forces in protest against the arrest of 25 young people from Nubia (in the south of Egypt) since November 3 and the death of activist Gamal Sorour in a prison cell a few days ago.
Mohamed Haggag, lawyer of Nubian detainees, said that the number of those arrested in these events amounted to 10, who are now being interrogated at Camp Shallal.
Haggag added that the charges against the Nubian detainees are "blocking roads, damaging a railway station, a complaint from the transport authority, damaging public facilities, assaulting troops and demonstrating without permission". He further added that the detainees’ remand in custody will be extended.
Mohamed Saleh Sorour, 50, known as Gamal Sorour, died after a four-day hunger strike in Aswan Central Prison. Witnesses said he died before getting transferred to a hospital. The coup regime’s Interior Ministry claims his death came after he was transferred to Aswan Central Hospital.
Security forces arrested 24 Nubian activists on the last day of Eid Al-Adha (Friday, September 1, 2017) after they organized a protest holding Dfouf (Tambourines) to demand their right to return to their land from which they had been evicted when construction of the High Dam started and some projects built on the course of the Nile. They were later known in the media by “al-Dfouf Detainees”
Fears of Nubian Eruption
Gamal Eid, Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), condemned the arrest of 24 Nubian activists and protesters, saying that their detention was contrary to the Constitution and the law, warning of the possibility of an explosion of rage in the Nubian society because of the repression of its citizens. He also noted that the issue is basically political and not criminal.
ANHRI’s director Eid held the Ministry of the Interior responsible for the life of the strikers, stressing that what happened was not humane. Among those arrested was one of the outstanding students, who received a state award, but unfortunately his future is being destroyed due to illegal detention.
Neglect of the Nubian cause
Zakaria Bercy, member of the Central Committee for the Defense of Nubia, accused the Sisi regime of fomenting anger in Nubia. He expressed his fear of an explosion of this anger at any time because of the brutality of the police and the intransigence of the judiciary, stressing that the release of their loved ones is the only way to avoid an eruption, since they were only demanding their rights be respected. 60 detainees, including those arrested from protests and from the tribes of Daboudiya and Hilaliyya, now languish in Sisi jails. Bercy warned that the next revolution may come from the south.
