Fears are rising among members of Student Action for Refugees (STAR) at the American University in Cairo (AUC) that the seven Sudanese refugees released on bail March 5 will not be acquitted in their final trial on May 4.
Instead of being discharged according to court order, the refugees have been sent to Borg El Arab prison in Alexandria, said their lawyer, Ali El Habit
“I have sent a warning memorandum to the district attorney, Abdeen police station, and the court of justice, stating it is their responsibility to make sure the accused do not miss their trial [in Cairo],” he said, noting fears that the accused will be departed or “disappeared.”
“State security tried to deport the accused before their final trial session. Who exactly are they protecting by doing that?” questioned El-Habit.
The lawyer, who believes his mobile phone is being tapped and his phone line and internet connection have been purposefully cut off, claims that state security are trying to protect themselves from the discovery that one of their own men arrested the refugees randomly, forged evidence against them and wrote up a false police report.
Meanwhile, STAR members are trying to gather as many supporters as they can from AUC to attend the trial.
“It’s not a demonstration,” said Edefe Ojomo, president of STAR. “Having lots of people there from a variety of backgrounds supporting the [accused] will show the jury that these people aren’t murderers.’
Ojomo added that the seven refugees are “out of luck” because their trial is scheduled on the same day as the next planned nationwide strike.
The seven, along with another Sudanese refugee, are now known as the ‘AUC Eight,’ accused of conspiracy to murder Maleea Fealjour Bekam outside AUC’s Greek campus and of causing civil disturbance during an International Refugee Day celebration last June.
The eighth defendant, Alam Eddin Barshim, has been charged with murder and has not been released on bail.
An investigation was initiated when El Habit filed a complaint asking a judge to investigate allegations that state security and the prosecutor’s office are colluding to avoid the defendants’ release. That step was called the first of its kind since the establishment of the Egyptian court system by independent paper El Masry El Youm .
The May 4 trial where the refugees will receive their final verdict will also issue a decision on the state security’s actions.
Zeinab Soliman, mother of Al Ameen Abbas, one of the accused, came with her family from Sudan to Egypt in June to be with her son and is now making weekly trips to Alexandria to visit him in his new prison.
“Al Ameen came to learn aviation here. He had attended only one class when this happened,” she said. “He’s a student, why would he be involved in murder?”
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