Today a number of Egyptian artists and human rights activists submitted a statement to the General Prosecutor, demanding the release of blogger activist and novelist Mosaad Abu Fajr [1], who has been in jail since December 2007.
Detained in Borg al Arab prison, Abu Fajr was arrested after the eruption of demonstrations in Rafah city in protest against the Egyptian government that tried to take over the houses of the Egyptian citizens living in the city. The Public Prosecutor's Office charged Abu Fajr, among others, with inciting the riot actions in addition to resisting authorities and assaulting civil servants on duty.
Mosaad Abu Fajr has a blog called “Wedna Ne’iesh [2]“, it is a Bedouin expression that means “We Want to live”. In his blog, he discusses the cause about Bedouin [3], who are not covered enough in state owned media.
The Front Defending Egyptian Demonstrators (Egyptian group of volunteers) pointed that Abu Fajr is the First Emergency Victim, FDED mentioned in a press release last May:
The court overruled the first detention decision issued by the Minister of Interior. Waiting for extending the state of emergency, Abu Fajr was kept in Arish custody for 15 days and then transferred to Borg al Arab under the emergency law to be the first victim of the 27-year-old state of emergency in its new version
Earlyer, Front Line Defenders [4], considered the case of Abu Fajr has something to do with being a human right activist:
Front Line believes that the arrest of Mosaad Abu Fajr is directly related to his work in defence of human rights and fears that this may form part of an ongoing campaign against human rights defenders in Egypt.