Samir Zakher Ghebrial made his way to the podium of the noisy conference hall in downtown Cairo's Press Syndicate headquarters to speak about his19 yearold son Fadi, detained in Qasr El-Nil police station. “When they took Fadi to the police station they accused him of belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood. When he showed them the tattooed cross on his wrist to prove that he's a Copt they accused him of belonging to the 6th April movement,” said Ghebrial. The accusations are “ready-made”, he added. Ghebrial was addressing a conference on detainees on Sunday evening at which families and ex-detainees gave testimonies in front of an audience packed with agitated activists, detainees' friends and media representatives. “I'm asking the prosecutor investigating the cases of all the detained youth to take a good look at the charge sheets. They are always accused of the same things - thuggery, blocking roads and insulting the interior ministry,” said Ghebrial. “We struggle to give our children the best education then you simply throw them in jails and torture them.” Fadi was arrested by street vendors along with 10 others on 8 January and handed over to the police. According to his father he was taken first to Qasr El-Nil police station and then Abdein – both in downtown Cairo- where he and his fellow detainees were severely beaten. “I have a message for Field Marshal Abdel-Fatah El-Sisi, whom we supported: you're not eradicating terrorism you're eradicating our youth,” Ghebrial said, both wrists raised in the air. That a young Coptic man is languishing in a police station as part of the war on terrorism highlights the extent of the massive crackdown on dissent by the authorities, and the random arrests by which the crackdown is being conducted. Lawyers and rights activists complain of their inability to monitor or document arrests. Until November deposed president Mohamed Morsi's supporters were the main focus of the security apparatus but that has changed. The security dragnet now hauls in leading activists of the January 2011 uprising, including blogger Alaa Abdel-Fattah and 6 April leader Ahmed Maher. Now activists say a growing number of individuals with no political affiliation or involvement are being randomly arrested. They include an alarming number of minors — more than 300 according to the independent website Wikithawra. Fadi's story was echoed in testimonies recounted by dozens of heartbroken and tearful parents. “My son, who's not yet 16, was given electric shocks to his back in Al-Azbakeya police station and then assigned to the minor's detention centre in Al-Marg [a destitute facility on the outskirts of north east Cairo],” said the father of Islam Magdy, detained with 30 others on 14 January. An English language school teacher said her son Ahmad Farag was shopping in downtown Cairo when he was arrested in a mass roundup. Another parent said in a choking voice that he never thought he'd be in this situation, telling the world that his son is a prisoner for doing nothing. “What future awaits him?” he asked. Behind the podium a long line of people carrying posters with the names and pictures of detainees stood in silence. The event is part of a campaign by activists to shed light on the growing number of random detentions and the routine use of torture by security forces. Both the interior ministry and public prosecutor deny the torture allegations and claim only those who will face criminal charges are detained. Wikithawra estimates that 21,000 people were arrested between Morsi's overthrow and 31 December 2013. That number has increased, most dramatically on the third anniversary of the 25 January when over 1,000 — including tens of activists - were incarcerated according to the interior ministry. The figures prompted a group of activists from different political affiliations to launch the ‘Freedom to the Brave' (FTB) campaign which seeks to pressure the authorities to release all political prisoners regardless of their affiliations. “Technically they're not detainees because of the charges but we insist on calling this by its name. They are detainees,” says Bakho Bakhsh, one of the campaign's founders. The issue is quickly evolving into a common cause for political groups mostly at loggerheads since 2012. According to Bakhsh the interior ministry's repression of any dissent and targeting of secular activists is allowing them to speak out about the security crackdown on everyone, including thousands of Brotherhood members, “which wasn't possible before” because of the political climate. The noise being generated is having results. On Tuesday the public prosecutor ordered the release on bail of the 11 arrested on 8 January, including Fadi Samir Ghebrial. “Pressure works,” says Khaled Abdel-Hamid, a socialist activist with the FTB campaign. “By talking about the detainees we are protecting them.” The issue has forced its way, for now at least, into the mainstream media where outlets are either supportive of the regime or disinclined to report on violations that damage its image. The case of pregnant 19-year-old Dahab Hamdi, who says she was randomly arrested on 14 January as part of a police raid on a Brotherhood street march, is a case in point. When the prison authorities transported her to a hospital she was handcuffed to a bed. An activist took her picture and posted it online where it circulated across the globe. A day later the prosecutor general ordered her release. A new online campaign to post selfies carrying posters demanding the freedom of “unknown detainees” is circulating across social media websites. But the volume of arrests and cases pending before the courts exceeds the limited capacity of these campaigns. “There are small victories here and disappointments there,” says Bakhsh. “We still have a long way to go.” On Monday an appeal court in Alexandria upheld the two-year jail terms handed to four activists for protesting without a permit. In December a Cairo criminal court sentenced Maher and Mohamed Adel of the 6 April Movement, and independent activist Ahmed Doma, to three years in jail and a LE50,000 fine for organising an unauthorised protest and attacking security forces outside a court in November. Blogger Abdel-Fattah has yet to be referred to trial and hundreds of cases involving jailed Islamists are waiting to be heard.
