An Egyptian court has ordered the detention of 24 Nubians for 15 days whilst an investigation continues into their participation in a protest earlier this month calling for more recognition of their rights as a minority group in Egypt.
According to the men’s lawyer, Moustafa Al-Hassan, the decision of detention follows an appeal by prosecutors against a decision to release the defendants on bail this week that was not finalised.
The Nubians were arrested after demonstrating in the southern city of Aswan to demand their right to return to their ancestral land around the lake formed by the Aswan High Dam.
They were then subsequently charged with illegally protesting, allegedly receiving funds from foreign sources and blocking public roads.
Read: Amnesty calls on Egypt to release detained Nubians
Nubians’ grievances date back to the 19th century when they were forcibly displaced from the east of Aswan in 1898 amid plans for building the Aswan Dam.
They were forcibly displaced again in 1964 amid the construction of the High Dam under President Gamal Abdel Nasser and the creation of the man-made Nasser Lake as a water reservoir.
Under Nasser, the Nubian community was relocated to the city of Kum Ombo, an area measuring 50 square kilometres, which is far smaller than the areas they originally lived in before the construction of the dam.
Since their displacement Nubian activists have often held protests and sit-ins demanding their return to the area around Lake Nasser.