Beltagy’s son released

The Cairo Court of Appeal decided yesterday to release 16-year-old Khaled Beltagy, whose father Mohamed Beltagy is a leading Muslim Brotherhood figure, on a 10,000 Egyptian pound ($1,254) bail, according to a legal source.

A member of Beltagy’s defence team told the Anadolu Agency that he rejects the charges against Khaled and finds them unacceptable and malicious.

He also said that yesterday’s decision is subject to appeal by the prosecution, and the defence team will ask for Khaled’s release again if the prosecution appeals. “This has not happened yet but it is likely to happen,” the lawyer added. The prosecution’s appeal is usually considered in a hearing held one day after the issuance of the court’s release decision.

In September, the security authorities arrested Khaled Beltagy from his family home in the neighbourhood of Nasr City, eastern Cairo, “without an arrest warrant from the public prosecutor”.

At the time, Ammar Beltagy, Khaled’s older brother, said: “This is the second time in which Khaled is arrested. He was imprisoned before, on absurd, fake and fabricated charges, despite his young age; his focus on his studies and completing his education; and the detention of both his brother [Anas] and his father.”

Ammar stressed that Khaled’s kidnapping and arrest came “in revenge for his father’s role in the revolution, his leadership of the national action against Mubarak’s oppression, and his defence of Egyptians’ freedoms and rights.”