Egypt’s April 6 Founding Member Given 4 Days Detention

The founder of April 6 Youth Movement Ahmed Maher was given four days detention pending investigation by the Nasr City prosecution on Friday.

Egypt’s security forces detained Ahmed Maher earlier during the day as he arrived at Cairo Airport from Vienna following a trip to the the United States.

April 6 members are currently protesting the detention of their political leader at the prosecution offices in Nasr City and are calling for others to join.

An interior ministry official said that Maher was detained based an arrest warrant issued by the prosecutor-general for accusations of inciting protests in front of the interior minister’s residence last March, according to state-run news agency MENA.

On 29 March, four members of the movement were arrested and charged with rioting and resisting authorities after security forces dispersed a protest held by the youth movement at the residence of minister Mohamed Ibrahim in New Cairo.

The protesters held women’s underwear and banners accusing the ministry of “prostituting” itself to the regime.

One month later, a New Cairo court ordered the release of the four members. However, it was unclear whether or not the charges against them had been dropped.

The 6 April movement had supported President Morsi in the June 2012 presidential elections against Mubarak-era candidate Ahmed Shafiq.

However, the movement has been steadily condemning Morsi’s policies, accusing the Brotherhood leader of betraying his pro-revolution campaign promises.

Ahram