Activists tortured? DEFENCE lawyers of three leading activists walked out of court on Monday in protest at their clients' mistreatment by security personnel. The Cairo Misdemeanor Appeals Court scheduled a session on 7 April to hear the appeal lodged by Ahmed Doma, Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel against their three-year prison sentences. The trio asked the court to document an assault — which allegedly took place while they were being transferred from Tora prison — in the trial records. They also asked their lawyers to withdraw from court in response to the assault. The court has delegated the prosecution to look into the alleged beating of the defendants. The three were sentenced to three years in jail and fined LE50,000 each in December 2013 after being found guilty of organising an unauthorised protest and assaulting police officers. Doma is a member of the Nasserist Popular Current. Maher and Adel are founding members of the April 6 Youth Movement. Hunger strike A MEMBER of the Nasserist Popular Current announced he will begin a hunger strike after his detention was renewed this week for a further 15 days. Omar Al-Kady was arrested on 25 January, the third anniversary of the 2011 revolution. According to interior ministry figures more than 1,000 people were arrested on the same day, and 64 killed in clashes with security forces. The majority remain in detention pending investigation. The Popular Current says families of the detained will hold a press conference in the next few days and begin their own hunger strikes in solidarity with the prisoners. Amnesty International reports that security forces made a “staggering” number of arrests and ill-treated detainees, including children, on 25 January. Ezz conditional release AN EGYPTIAN criminal court on Monday ordered the release of steel tycoon Ahmed Ezz against payment of LE2 million bail in the ongoing case concerning the acquisition of a giant state steel plant. In September 2013 Ezz's release was ordered, with bail set at LE100 million, on separate charges of laundering funds related to the Al-Dekheila takeover. “The maximum period of detention has now been reached Ezz will be released only if he pays all the bail” pending his appeals, Ahmed Shawki, Ezz's lawyer noted. In mid-2013 Ezz was fined LE100 million after being found guilty of a range of monopolistic practices. Ezz faces retrials on several corruption charges, including embezzling LE6.4 billion between 2003 and 2011 in deals related to his acquisition of the Ezz Al-Dekheila (EZDK) steel plant. Ezz, who was secretary-general of Hosni Mubarak's National Democratic Party and a close associate of the former president's son Gamal Mubarak, received cumulative sentences of 60 years. He has appealed all the verdicts. Medics escalate THE DOCTORS' strike committee has warned that its partial open-ended strike, which starts on Saturday, is only the first step in the process of pressing their demands and if necessary doctors will resign en masse from the Health Ministry. Responding to a speech made by military chief Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi in which he urged doctors to “give without waiting for return” the committee demanded that military hospitals be opened to the public for free. In the same statement they also said the practice of sending state officials abroad for medical treatment must end and called for the salaries and bonuses of senior officials in the health ministry to be made public. Last Thursday Al-Sisi said Egypt is facing an “extremely difficult” economic situation which poses a challenge to “providing decent medical care” for all Egyptians. Public sector doctors have held intermittent strikes since 2011 demanding higher wages and better working conditions. A general strike by doctors, dentists, pharmacists and veterinarians employed in public facilities started on Saturday. Strike organisers say participation across all sectors is 80 per cent. Tragic accident TWENTY-FIVE people, including three children, died in a road accident in the Sinai Peninsula early on Tuesday when a bus collided with a truck. Another 25, including the driver of the bus, were injured. The bus, which was carrying passengers from South Sinai to the Nile Delta city of Mansoura, hit a truck in a head-on collision on the highway between Oyoun Moussa and Suez. The injured were transferred by ambulance to Suez general hospital. Earlier, on Monday, 16 people were killed in two road accidents.
