3,633 protesters in ‘September 20’ case released: report

CAIRO – 22 April 2020: The Legal Aid Unit of the Dialogue Forum for Development and Human Rights Foundation issued a report Wednesday citing the release of 3,633 protesters out of 3,717 detained.

The unit monitored and documented the case known in the media as “September 20 protests”. The protests were called for by fugitive Egyptian contractor Mohamed Ali, who fled to Spain and posted videos criticizing the Egyptian regime.

Limited protests erupted in some governorates across Egypt, after the end of Al-Ahly and Zamalek football match in September 2019.

Those who participated in the protests were arrested over 10 days starting September 20, 2019. They were first summoned before prosecution on September 22, where they faced a list of charges including:

- Helping a terror group in illegal actions

- Publishing and broadcasting false news

- Misuse of social media networks

- Participating in an unlicensed protest

The report also published the release dates of the 3,633 defendants:

- In October 2019: 991 were released

- In November 2019: 501 were released

- In December 2019: 188 were released

- In March and April 2020: 17 were released

- A total of 1,935 defendants were released in different dates.