Government under pressure to free detained students

Egypt's military-backed government is under increasing pressure from student unions to release hundreds of students detained in recent months amid tensions that gripped academic institutions after the army deposed Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July last year.

The government has in recent weeks released around 200 detained students and said prosecutors were investigating cases of other detainees. Academics estimate that more than 1,300 students have been detained.

"We are not against the prosecution of students if they are found guilty of wrongdoing," said Fatma Ragab, deputy chief of the student union at Cairo University, Egypt's biggest centre of academic learning.

"We object to having students in temporary detention for a long period. It is necessary to release the students who are not involved in any illegal acts. The detained students face the prospect of missing lectures and examinations, a matter that threatens their future."

Universities in the country have been rocked by violent protests since the academic year started in September last year. Authorities have repeatedly blamed the unrest on students backing Morsi's Muslim Brotherhood.

Several students, mainly from the state-run Islamic Al-Azhar University, have been killed in clashes with police in the past six months. Other students have been detained, allegedly for instigating pro-Morsi violence inside and outside several universities.

"There are students who have been arrested randomly by the police during the rioting. They mostly belong to the universities of Al-Azhar, Cairo, Mansoura and Alexandria," said Ragab.

Earlier this month, a delegation from the country's student unions met Prime Minister Ibrahim Mehleb to discuss the issue. They handed him a list of 1,322 students detained across Egypt's universities.

Following the meeting, 170 students were released after being cleared of involvement in the unrest. Fifty-three others had earlier been released.

University students have staged a series of protests in the past two weeks - since the start of the second semester, after a mid-year vacation prolonged by the country's political unrest - demanding the release of their detained colleagues.

"We will not rest until all our colleagues are released from detention and justice is achieved for those brutally killed by police," said an Islamist student at Al-Azhar, who only gave his first name as Hassan, apparently for fear of detention.

"These oppressive authorities deceive themselves if they think they can break our will by expelling us [from universities] and throwing us into prisons on fabricated charges."

Caretaker President Adly Mansour recently authorised the heads of universities to expel students charged with 'subversive acts' after swift investigations by disciplinary boards.

"I am following up the file of arrested students with the interior minister and the student union representing all Egyptian universities," said Wael el-Degwy, who was recently appointed as higher education minister.

He told the independent newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm that his ministry was working to secure the release of students found to be not guilty of violating the law.

"The issue of students' arrests should not be exaggerated," he said. "There are around two million students at Egyptian universities. The total number of students arrested in recent incidents does not exceed 800."