Court renews detention of Mohamed Hussein for another 45 days

Salma Abdallah
1 Min Read
Mahmoud Mohamed Hussein, 19, was wearing a t-shirt that read ‘A nation without torture’ on the third anniversary of the 25 January Revolution when he was arrested. (credit: Public domain)

A Cairo Criminal Court renewed on Wednesday the detention period of Mahmoud Mohamed Hussein, known in the media as the “anti-torture T-shirt prisoner”, for another 45 days.

Hussein has spent more than 712 days in remand. He was arrested on the 25 January 2014, the third anniversary of the revolution, at el-Marg checkpoint in Cairo, while wearing a T-shirt bearing the phrase “Nation without Torture”.

The 20-year-old is facing charges of protesting, belonging to a terrorist organization, possessing explosives and inciting violence.

He has been subject to more than 20 adjournment sessions to renew his detention, for a period of 45 days each time. Wednesday’s session was previously postponed three times, due to prison authorities’ failure to transfer him to the courtroom.

Hussein, who was arrested when he was still 18, turned 20 on the 31st of December, coinciding with the completion of 706 days behind bars.

International rights group Amnesty International launched a campaign in solidarity with Hussein in June 2015, creating a petition urging Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to order his release.

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