American University students protest classmates’ 5-year sentences
Courtesy: Free Abdullah Elghandour & Abdelrahman Boghdady Facebook page
 

On Wednesday, students at the American University in Cairo (AUC) organized on-campus protests and marches against the court-ordered imprisonment of two of their classmates, Abdallah al-Ghandour and Abdel Rahman Boghdady.

Both of these students were each sentenced to five years imprisonment and hefty fines on Tuesday, just hours before their graduation commencement.

They were arrested while participating in a street protest in December, and were each issued five-year prison sentences for violating provisions of the Protest Law, which was issued by the interim government in late November.

The Protest Law criminalizes unauthorized public assemblies involving more than 10 people, granting police forces sweeping powers to disperse and/or arrest protesters.

The provisions of this law have recently been used to lock-up Islamist and secular opposition activists alike.

Ghandour and Boghdady were apparently marching in support of ousted President Mohamed Morsi, along with members of the Islamist Anti-Coup Alliance. Following their arrest on December 20, prosecutors accused them of obstructing traffic and blocking roads during a street protest in the eastern Cairo district of Nasr City on December 20.

A Facebook page entitled “Free Ghandour and Boghdady” mentions that these two students were arrested “during a peaceful protest.”

However, prosecutors claim they were taking part in an unauthorized protest that was violent.

Student protesters marched on campus carrying a large banner with the images of Ghandour and Boghdady behind bars, upon which was written: “You can try to avoid it but it’s pointless … you can never avoid the voices of the voiceless.” The word “absent” was superimposed over the photos of these two students.

The students also took their protest actions to the office of AUC President Lisa Anderson in the hope that the university board would take legal action to push for the release of the detained students, or at least to appeal the case on behalf of the board.

Anderson’s response, or that of the AUC board of trustees, was not immediately available.

Ghandour is a student of computer science, while Boghdady was studying mechanical engineering. A number of protests, marches, sit-ins, petitions, and online campaigns have been launched over the past few months for their release.

In a YouTube video on the channel AUCians Against Military Rule” tribute is paid to jailed and fallen students, stating: “AUCians are not an exception to the brutality of the police and army.”

AUC student Omar Mohsen is reported to have lost his life at the age of 23 during the bloody clashes at Port Said Football Stadium on February 1, 2012. While another AUC student Ahmed Sonbol, a pro-Morsi activist, lost his life  — also at the age of 23 — during the forced dispersal of the Rabea al-Adaweya protest in Nasr City on August 14.

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