AUCians Continue Demanding Release of Detained Students

BY NOUR IHAB HANNA

For the second time in less than a month, a group of AUCians held a sit-in demonstration to highlight the struggle to free two of their colleagues currently incarcerated in Abou Zaabal prison.

Mechanical Engineering student Abd El Rahman Boghdady and Abdallah Ghandour, a Computer Science junior, were arrested by police December 20 during a protest calling for an end to military rule and for the release of political detainees.

Their arrest came less than a month after the then-newly enacted protest law, which prohibited “unsanctioned gatherings” of 10 people or more.

Students at the sit-in late March called on the university administration to pressure the Interior Ministry to release Boghdady and Ghandour.

Ahmed Samir, a mechanical engineering senior and one of the organizers, said that Boghdady and Ghandour were first taken to a Nasr City police precinct with 70 other detainees on the afternoon of December 20.

They were moved to Abou Zaabal prison when the precinct became overcrowded with detainees.

Samir says that Boghdady and Ghandour have missed classes; exams and projects while enduring what he said was very harsh treatment during incarceration.

The Caravan has been unable to independently verify how the two students have been treated, and AUC’s legal department said they could not comment on the case.

“I may feel empathy toward them, because they are my friends, but they aren’t terrorists. All what they cared for were the midterms and assignments … [the] same concerns as us,” Samir said.

Boghdady and Ghandour’s court hearing has been twice postponed; they have been incarcerated in jail since their arrest.

Samir emphasized multiple times that he is disinterested in politics and does not want to talk about religion or political parties; his primary focus is to secure his friends’ freedom.

“Why are we silent? Is it because if we stand for Boghdady and Ghandour, we will be called “Ikhwan” (Muslim Brotherhood),” Samir asked.

In a bid to provide moral support to Boghdady and Ghandour, raise awareness of their plight, and help pressure the authorities, a number of students have started an online petition with a target of 1000 signatures.

The petition will then be delivered to President Lisa Anderson.