Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Serving the UMN community since 1900

The Minnesota Daily

Daily Email Edition

Get MN Daily NEWS delivered to your inbox Monday through Friday!

SUBSCRIBE NOW

By demonizing pleasure, we set ourselves up for unfulfilling sex lives.
Opinion: Let’s talk about sex
Published March 27, 2024

Egyptian pro-democracy leader charged with inciting unrest

.CAIRO, Egypt (AP) – Prosecutors charged a key leader of Egypt’s main pro-democracy group on Thursday with inciting unrest and violence, officials said, four days after thousands stayed home from work and school as part of a nationwide strike.

George Ishaq, co-founder of the opposition group Kifaya, was arrested Wednesday night in a raid on his home in downtown Cairo.

Another of the group’s founders, Abdel-Halim Qandil, said the case against Ishaq is part of a government crackdown on Kifaya in retaliation for Sunday’s labor strike, where thousands of Egyptians skipped school and work and hundreds marched at rallies to protest high food prices.

The demonstrations were organized by several opposition groups, including Kifaya, which means “enough” in Arabic.

The nationwide strike was the first major attempt by such groups to turn the past year’s scattered labor unrest into a wider political protest against President Hosni Mubarak and his ruling party.

Kifaya has often spearheaded demonstrations against Mubarak’s U.S.-backed government since late 2004.

A document from the state prosecutor’s office, where Ishaq was questioned, accused Sunday’s protesters of “assaulting people, harming public property and defying public authority using violent means.”

The document also outlined charges against Ishaq. It was given to his lawyers, who were appointed by the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, the prominent Cairo human rights group.

The center released excerpts of the document on Thursday, and its contents were confirmed by a security official at the prosecutor’s office, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to media.

The Egyptian government holds Ishaq partly responsible for the nationwide strike, which created “chaos, prevented state employees from performing their duties, disrupted traffic and endangered the lives of many,” the document said.

Leave a Comment
More to Discover

Accessibility Toolbar

Comments (0)

All The Minnesota Daily Picks Reader Picks Sort: Newest

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *