CAIRO: Three students at Egypt's German University in Cairo (GUC) announced they are starting an open-ended hunger strike until the university revokes its decision of expelling five students, two of them indefinitely last week. The GUC administration issued a statement on Thursday saying the expulsions were “not politically motivated” and it was regarding the “obstruction of the educational process and inciting violence between the students, which could endanger their lives.” The statement added that the students were warned about protesting inside the campus, but they did not adhere. The GUC students in solidarity with their fellow expelled colleagues continued for the third day on Friday to pressure the university to revoke its decision. The student who entered the hunger strike are Mohamed Dawoud, Mohamed Hazem and Sarah Kassam. The protesting students contacted a police officer to officially document their strike at the university, but after arriving and meeting with security officials at the school, the officers demanded they file a police report at local police station, but the students refused to leave the premises of the university. The students threatened to send a memo to the Attorney General to inform him of their protest. Amr Abdel Wahab and Hassan Zeko were expelled from the university and Ahmed Bostan, Mostafa Essia, Abdel Hamid Abou Zeid Mekawy were suspended for two weeks, according to students at GUC. The GUC administration warned families of students that if the students would not stop marching and protesting on campus chanting against the military council, they would be expelled. However, the threats from the university have only fired up the students against what they have dubbed censorship of freedom of expression and oppression by the university. Abou Zeid, one of the suspended students, published the suspension letter online through his Twitter account, which reads: “Due to your disrespectful behavior and your violation of courtesy and good manners, we hereby acknowledge that you are suspended for two weeks.” Five other students at GUC were turned over to an investigation committee at the university for organizing an anti-military junta protest inside the campus and were accused of a long list of violations. Inciting students to break into the administration building, negatively influencing the educational process, endangering the lives of students due to over crowding and pushing, yelling loudly inside the campus and leading the “troublemakers student body,” were the accusations, according to a report by the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression. BM ShortURL: http://goo.gl/4BhNX Tags: Cairo, featured, GUC, Hunger Strike, Protest Section: Egypt, Latest News
