CAIRO: State Security Prosecution has not raised any new charges against detained activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah in the Maspero case, lawyer Ragia Omran told Daily News Egypt. Omran on Thursday denied reports published in independent Al-Shorouk this week listing new charges including deliberate murder against the activist. Abdel-Fattah's case, along with 36 other detainees, was referred from military prosecution to State Security Prosecution with charges of illegal gathering to commit acts of terrorism and stealing weapons during the Maspero clashes. On Oct. 9, army forces violently dispersed a mainly Coptic protest in clashes that left 27 dead and hundreds injured. Omran said that when the case was referred to State Security Prosecution, they discovered two new defendants who were previously arrested from their homes: a Coptic man named Maikel Naguib and a Salafi man named Abdel Rahman Moustafa. Abdel-Fattah was summoned over a month ago by military prosecution for interrogation with activist Bahaa Saber, but both refused to be interrogated in front of a military prosecution as civilians. They also hold that the military is party to the crime and hence should not be investigating the Maspero incidents. Abdel-Fattah's mother, university professor Laila Soueif, ended an 18-day hunger strike when her son was referred to a civilian prosecution.
