CAIRO – Egyptian prosecutors have ordered the detention for 15 days of a lawyer who assisted the family of an Italian graduate student killed under suspicious circumstances during a police crackdown in Cairo, accusing him of disseminating false news.
Ibrahim Metwally was arrested at Cairo International Airport three days ago while traveling to Geneva to speak at a United Nations meeting on enforced disappearances. He had provided legal services to the family of Giulio Regeni, an Italian researcher who disappeared on Jan. 25, 2016 in Cairo and was later found tortured to death.
The Wednesday decision made by the Supreme State Security Prosecution chaired by Khaled Diaa el-Deen came a day after Metwally was interrogated.
The defendant is being held in Cairo's sprawling Tora Prison complex pending investigations.
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