Prosecution starts investigating Wael Abbas, activist denies all charges

CAIRO – 28 May 2018: Egypt’s Supreme Security Prosecution started on Monday its investigations with activist Wael Abbas who was arrested on May 24 and jailed for 15 days pending investigations after being accused of belonging to a terrorist group, inciting against the Egyptian state and disturbing the state’s authorities.

Abbas was questioned for six hours by the prosecution about all the charges; however after finishing the pre-investigations, the prosecution was still convinced that Abbas is cooperating with an illegal group to deliberately spread fabricated news aiming to destabilize the state's security.

Abbas's activism before January 25 revolution was questioned during the investigations; several details needed to be clarified about his participation in several political events over the past years, according to an official statement issued by the prosecution on Monday.

The prosecution confronted Abbas with evidence collected over the past period, including testimonials of political activists who affirmed receiving funds from foreign organizations and groups in exchange for inciting against the state.

Abbas however denied all the evidence and accusations. He affirmed that he was never part of any terrorist group or organization calling for anything against the country.

The investigations are still underway, according to the statement, set to resume again by next week after gathering more evidence and receiving the final reports about Abbas from the Internet department regarding his activity on the social media.

Abbas was questioned in the presence of his lawyers and was returned to detention upon the investigation's conclusion until next week.

Abbas's activism began in the early 2000s with videos on police brutality and torture. Notably, a video he shared in 2006 of a microbus driver, Emad el-Kebir, being tortured at a police station, led to a rare imprisonment of a police officer, Captain Islam Nabih.

Abbas was a fierce opponent of the Muslim Brotherhood regime in 2012 and 2013, but was also against the overthrow of Mohamed Morsi.