The ruling by the Court of Appeals to release the 27 detainees who had been charged with attacking the military and stealing their weapons or damaging military equipment, was applauded by the Coptic Church and by rights activists in Egypt.
WATANI International
16 December 2011
The ruling by the Court of Appeals to release the 27 detainees who had been charged with attacking the military and stealing their weapons or damaging military equipment, was applauded by the Coptic Church and by rights activists in Egypt.
A spokesman of the Coptic Church praised the release order but said that the culprits who killed the 27 Copts and injured some 1000 should be brought to justice.
Father Filopateer Gamil of the Maspero Youth Union said the release of the detainees was a corrective move since, he said, “these young people were innocent and we all know that. Yet they were detained for more than two months for no reason but to settle accounts [between the military and the Copts].”
Rights and Coptic activists, including the Maspero Youth Union and the Copts Unfettered movement warned that the release of the detainees should not be used as a pretext to close the Maspero file without bringing to justice the criminals who crushed the Copts to death under the armoured vehicles and shot and injured them. They moreover called for the release of the remaining detainees including Alaa’ Abdel-Fattah and Michael Naguib.