CAIRO: Egypt's Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression announced on Thursday it has filed two lawsuits against the German University in Cairo (GUC) for indefinitely expelling two of its students and suspending three more for two weeks for protesting against the military junta inside campus. The students were recently holding memorial activities for their late colleagues, who died in Port Said during the football clashes that left at least 75 dead and hundreds injured, when the winning team's fans, al-Masry, attacked the guest team, al-Ahly, during and after the game. Knives, rocks and fire crackers were reported used, eyewitnesses said. Many reported that al-Masry fans also were seen throwing some Ahly fans from higher levels of the stadium. The rights organization filed the two cases on behalf of the two expelled students, Amr Abdel Wahab and Hassan Othman Zeko. The three suspended students are Ahmed Mohammad Hassa, Mostafa Ahmed Eissa and Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid. On February 18, GUC students organized a silent memorial for Karim Khazam, who died in the February 1 clashes, and soon after the gathering started calling for the removal of a statue of ousted president Hosni Mubarak from the campus. On February 21, the students were called in for interrogation and the “disciplining committee” investigating them included the Dean of the school Ibrahim al-Demery and other university officials. The students were faced with violations such as inciting rioting, attempting to break into the administrative building and endangering the lives of their fellow students of being finally expelled and fired. The following day, four students and one professor's assistant were given a written warning. From February 23 until the 28th, the students have been protesting daily the university's decision and the suspension of Ahmed Wafeq, the professor's assistant. Later, the students received an email notifying them of their final expulsion and banning them from entering the campus, which added that the university would only deal with their parents and not them personally. The rights group said in a statement that the students have committed nothing wrong or any violations of any sort, as they were peacefully protesting BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/dLu3n Tags: featured, GUC, Lawsuit, Protest, rights Section: Egypt, Human Rights, Latest News
