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GUC students protest 'politically-motivated' expulsions Roughly 2,000 converge on German University in Cairo (GUC) to protest students' expulsion following earlier demonstration against Egypt's ruling military junta
Thousands of German University in Cairo (GUC) students demonstrated Wednesday against a decision to permanently expel two students and ban three others from classes for their political activities.Hundreds of students – including a number from the Modern Sciences and Arts (MSA) University, the British University in Egypt (BUE), the American University in Cairo (AUC) and the Saint Fatima School – are currently staging a sit-in at the GUC campus to register their opposition to the move. The expulsion and suspension of the students followed a demonstration and screening of films by the Kazeboon (Liars) initiative, which document violations committed by Egypt's security forces. The initiative, which has set up informal cinema screenings countrywide, aims to counteract state rhetoric by providing video evidence proving the inaccuracy of statements made by the government and state media. Expelled student Amr Abd El-Wahab told Ahram Online that a protest was scheduled for 18 February to commemorate student Karim Kouzam, who was killed during the 1 February Port Said football tragedy, in which more than 70 people were killed. University administrators had warned that the planned protest should be silent, but students nevertheless chose to shout chants against Egypt's ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF). The Port Said deaths were widely blamed by political groups on police negligence. Many critics held the SCAF responsible for the carnage. According to Abd El-Wahab, university administrators responded to the 18 February demonstration by placing seven students and an assistant professor under investigation. The students received a formal warning while the assistant professor's classes were halted and his contract terminated. The seven students were given a warning and charged with "threatening the lives of university students by rushing on the stairs" and "breaking into university buildings." The expelled assistant professor, meanwhile, Ahmed Wafiq, who had played a role in coordinating the demonstration, was accused of attacking a university employee. The decision to expel the students followed the Kazeboon screening – two days after the demonstration, says Abd El-Wahab. The two permanently expelled students, Abd El-Wahab and Hassan Osman, were also among those to receive warnings after the protest. Ahmed Mekawy, Mostafa Eisa and Ahmed Hassan were also temporarily expelled for two weeks following the film screening. Abd El-Wahab claims that Ibrahim El-Demiry, a member of the university's board of trustees responsible for investigating the case, was a minister of transport under Mubarak-era prime minister Atef Ebeid. As transport minister, El-Demiry presided over the February 2002 Upper Egypt train fire, in which 361 passengers lost their lives. Abd El-Wahab says that El-Demiry's closeness to the former regime strongly suggests that his actions against the students were politically motivated. While no comment could be obtained by Ahram Online from university management, University President Mahmoud Abd El-Kader released a statement on the GUC's official website in which he spoke about the issue. Egypt is currently at a juncture "in which there is a lack of clarity and an absence of truth, which has led to the existence of extreme currents imposing their political, ideological and intellectual beliefs on students," the statement read. According to the statement, the GUC wants to maintain "the neutrality and independence of the university."While asserting that the GUC respects freedom of expression, the statement goes on to say that this should not manifest itself in a way that is "damaging to, or conflicts with, the rights and interests of others, or which might adversely affect the educational process." In the name of maintaining the university's "neutrality," the statement added, all political, religious or ideological activities would be banned and considered in violation of "the university's laws and values." GUC saw similar unrest in March of last year, when students demonstrated to demand a representative student union. In response, the university suspended 26 students until their parents petitioned the university to take them back and apologised for their actions. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/35695.aspx
