By Asmaa El Gammal
Ihab Atta, the detained fellow from The American University in Cairo, was released from prison last night upon an order from the Egyptian Interior Minister.
Atta was received by family members and AUC professor Saeed El Wakeel, one of Atta’s colleagues at the Arabic Language Insittute.
Atta’s colleagues were ecstatic about his release.
“This is a dream I’ve had for several years to come and it came true very early,” El Wakeel said.
Atta will be going to a hospital tomorrow to get a physical check-up, his colleagues said. Those who visited him during his detainment reported he had been suffering from health problems.
The Committee for the Defense of Ehab Atta was planning a march on Dec. 1 to demand his release or fair trial. The group had previously organized a sit-in on Oct. 27 with the same demands.
El Wakeel believes the sit-in caused the authorities to look into Atta’s case and discover his innocence.
Committee members say the Dec. 1 march will likely be replaced by a celebration of Atta’s release.
Atta was arrested by Egyptian National Security in January 2007 for unknown reasons and had been detained ever since.
2 Comments
November 16, 2008 at 4:52 pm
In spite of being late, it was good that the Egyptian Interior Minister responded to the demand. But it would be better to review arresting and detaining procedures in Egypt to be adjusted only to law .
February 10, 2009 at 5:42 am
[...] One of them was a popular AUC professor who had been missing since early 2007. He was not released until November, 2008. Rizk has hope for a speedier discharge, however, since news of his capture made [...]