Christian activist released from prison on bail in Egypt
A Christian activist considered by rights group as "one of the pillars" of human rights in Egypt posted bail and released from prison Tuesday, June 21.
Mina Thabet, the 26-year-old director of the Minority and Religious Groups Department at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom (ECRF), settled the 10,000 Egyptian pound (US$1,125) bail imposed by a judge in the Al-Wayly Court of Appeals on Saturday, June 18.
"I am happy but angry for being arrested in the first place," Thabet told Morning Star News while sitting at his home in Dar Al-Salam.
Thabet was arrested in his place by armed plain-clothes security officers at around 3 a.m. on May 13.
"The feeling of being in prison for defending human rights and my country was 'absurd,'" he said.
The publication previously reported that the Egyptian court slapped Thabet with 10 charges under anti-terrorism law.
A researcher at Amnesty International, Mohamed El-Messiry, spoke with Morning Star News and denounced the charges and the pieces of evidence against Thabet as all made-up and "ridiculous."
Thabet's arrest is only part of the country's crackdown against human rights activists and political dissenters. El-Messiry believes the government under President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi is exploiting its fight against terrorism.
"They are not targeting the right people," charged El-Messiry, noting that most of the arrests made are against Coptic Christians falsely accused as terrorists. "They are just using counter-terrorism to silence any kind of dissent."
Thabet is well known for documenting persecutions suffered by religious minorities at the hands of authorities, particularly among the Copts. His work also exposed the government's disregard on finding resolutions to such issues.
"I had a lot of time to think and see what the issues are, who I am defending," shared Thabet, as increasing incidences of Christian persecution in the country began to surface.
"It gave me a taste of what they go through. It gave me more strength to defend human rights issues," he said.
