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On the student protest movement in Egyptian universities since the military coup

October 17, 2014 at 2:37 pm

As the new academic year starts in Egyptian universities, a new wave of student demonstrations and activities condemning the military coup and demanding the release of detained students has begun. This is an effort to continue the work started by the students last year after the deposition of the democratically elected president Mohamed Morsi.

The following figures are the latest statistics charting the number of students killed, wounded, and detained since the military coup on July 3rd 2013 until October 14th 2014.

Death toll

Around 209 students were killed during various events inside and outside university campuses in the time period reference above. Of these, 208 students were killed during last year’s academic year. One student was killed last Tuesday in the Engineering faculty at Alexandria University.

This death toll includes six female students. Three of these students attended Al-Azhar University, one student attended Ain Shams University, one student attended Cairo University and one student attended Bani Suef University.

Twenty male students were killed by the security forces on campus. Ten of these students were from Al-Azhar University, seven of these students were from Cairo University, two of these students were from Ain Shams University, one student was from Alexandria University and one student was from Damanhour University.

Universities ranked by highest death toll

  1. Al-Azhar University with 76 killed students.
  2. Cairo University with 30 killed students.
  3. Ain Shams University with 12 killed students.
  4. Helwan University with 9 killed students.
  5. Zagazig University with 9 killed students.
  6. Alexandria University with 8 killed students.

Detained students

The number of students detained reached 1970 students, 1815 of whom were detained during the last academic and 155 during the current academic year. This does not include those who were later released.

Universities ranked by highest number of detained students

  1. Al-Azhar University where 831 students were detained.
  2. Mansoura University where 196 students were detained.
  3. Cairo University where 121 students were detained.
  4. Alexandria University where 80 students were detained.
  5. Zagazig University where 78 students were detained.
  6. Helwan University where 60 students were detained.
  7. Menoufiya University where 60 students were detained.

Expelled students

A total of 502 students have been expelled from universities, all of whom were expelled during the last academic year.

Amongst these students, 42 students had their expulsion order dropped after a court ruling was issued.

The highest number of expulsion orders given to students came from Al-Azhar University where 338 students faced expulsion. This was followed by Cairo University with 100 students, Menoufiya University with 45 students and Mansoura University with 10 students.

Court rulings

Three university students were sentenced to execution; one student from Al-Azhar University, one student from Mansoura University and one student from Fayoum University.

The total number of years that the students were sentenced to in prison is 2,377 years.

The sum of the fines the students were sentenced to pay reached EGP 15,011,000.

Al-Azhar University takes the lion share in court rulings against its students. The university has had one of its students sentenced to death; its students have received a total of 1386 years of imprisonment and EGP 13 million in fines.

Main events witnessed in Egyptian universities

  1. The events that took place in Al-Azhar University and the university city between December 26th and December 29th 2013 resulted in the death of four students and left around 19 others wounded.
  2. The events that took place in Cairo University on January 16 2014 resulted in the deaths of three students.
  3. The events occurring in the Al-Azhar university city on March 30th resulted in the deaths of two students.
  4. The events occurring in Cairo University on March 26 2014 resulted in the deaths of two students and the wounding of about eight students.

Translated from sasapost.com

The views expressed in this article belong to the author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial policy of Middle East Monitor.