Freed activist Ramy Shaath says ‘arbitrary detentions’ on the rise in Egypt

FRANCE 24 spoke to Ramy Shaath, an Egytian-Palestinian activist who spent two and half years in jail in Egypt on accusations of aiding a terrorist group. He was a member of several secular political groups and a co-founder of the pro-Palestinian BDS movement. Shaath, who was never formally charged, described the conditions of his arrest, detention and finally his release from jail on January 8. He claimed « arbitrary detentions and arrests » increasingly account for « the majority » of inmates in Egyptian prisons under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi. He also said he understood that he was expected to keep silent following his release and had already received threats.