Screenshot of leftist activist and member of Doctors syndicate Taher Mokhtar
Egypt’s prosecution ordered Friday the detention of doctor Taher Mokhtar for four days, along with two others, pending investigations for the possession of flyers that call for the overthrow of the current regime and protests on the 25 January 2011 uprising’s fifth anniversary.
Mokhtar, 30, is a long-time Revolutionary Socialist activist, according to ‘Freedom for the Brave,’ a grassroots campaign for the release of political prisoners in Egypt.
According to a statement released on the campaign’s Facebook page, security forces stormed Taher’s apartment in Downtown Cairo, arresting him and a friend and taking them to the Abdeen Police Station.
No official calls have been made for protests on the anniversary of the 25 January Revolution that ousted long-time autocrat Hosni Mubarak. Yet Egyptian security forces have arrested a number of activists as well as Facebook page administrators on charges of calling for protests.
A protest law issued in November 2013 mandates that any demonstration give the police at least three-days notice. The law also stipulates that the interior ministry has full discretion on whether to grant demonstrations permits or not.
Violators of the protest law face hefty fines and prison sentences of up to five years.
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