1,572 Egyptians arrested over Red Sea island transfer

Some 1,572 Egyptians have been arrested over the border row between Egypt and Saudi Arabia, Rassd reported rights groups saying yesterday.

The Front for Defending Egypt’s Protesters and Freedom for the Brave campaign said that the arrests took place in 24 Egyptian governorates, noting there were no arrests in North Sinai and Marsa Matrouh.

In a statement, the groups said: “Arrests and detentions took place in three separate phases. The first one took place in April and May 2016 and last January. They included 1,359 Egyptians. The second one took place in April 2017 and included 42 cases and the third one was in June and included 171.”

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According to the statement, the Egyptian authorities carried out 1,123 field detentions, including five from near government buildings, 115 at checkpoints and ambushes, 317 in house raids and 12 after they were summoned for investigation.

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The rights groups said that 680 detainees were released without being registered, 803 were indicted, but most of them were released pending further investigations while the reason behind the detention of 89 others is still unknown.

On Wednesday, the Egyptian parliament announced its final approval of the deal that concedes the islands of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia.