Tens of female activists outside the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace left the area late Sunday after a one-hour protest calling for the release of political prisoners detained for breaking the notorious law on protests.
Hoisting posters of some of the detainees, the demonstrators held up lanterns, a festive feature of the holy fasting month of Ramadan. “Without them, Ramadan is incomplete,” they chanted, referring to the detainees.
Reporters were barred from filming the protest.
Thousands of activists from multiple political backgrounds have been sentenced to prison for breaking the protest law enacted following the ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi in 2013. The law imposes fines and stipulates imprisonment for protests that fail to acquire prior security approval.
Rights groups have detected a surge in the disappearance of activists over the past several weeks.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
