Tampa Bay Times: “Egypt arrests activist on charges of insulting president”
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CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian police detained an activist known for his harsh criticism of the government on charges including insulting President Abdel-Fatah el-Sissi, a rights lawyer said Tuesday.
Fatima Harb, the wife of Shady el-Ghazaly Harb, told The Associated Press on Tuesday that prosecutors summoned her husband for an investigation into accusations of disseminating false news and insulting the president, among other charges.
The prosecutors, she said, set his bail at 50,000 Egyptian pounds, or about $2,810, late Monday. It has been paid but authorities have refused to let him return home, she said.
Rights lawyer Doaa Moustafa said Harb's whereabouts are unknown. Shady el-Ghazaly Harb was one of the young leaders behind the 2011 uprising that toppled President Hosni Mubarak.
The arrest is the latest in a heavy crackdown on opposition by el-Sissi who led the military's 2013 ouster of Egypt's first freely elected leader, the Islamist Mohammed Morsi, whose one-year in office proved divisive.