State Security Prosecution Considers Renewing Detention of 2 “Ghazl El-Mahalla” Workers.. Defense team demands their immediate release
Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo, considered today, Sunday, March 24, 2024, the renewal of detention for two workers from the Egyptian Spinning and Weaving Company in Mahalla (Ghazl El-Mahalla), namely Wael Abu Zouid and Mohamed Mahmoud Talba, who were arrested for their involvement in the strike carried out by the company’s workers in protest against not being included in the decision to raise the minimum wages.
The defense team representing the workers, including a lawyer from the Egyptian Center, attended the session for renewing their detention, asserting the lack of evidence of their involvement in the charges against them, especially since the workers announced the end of their peaceful strike. They demanded the immediate release of them without guarantees.
The workers’ lawyers were unable to attend the session to renew the detention of a number of Mahalla workers on Sunday, March 10, despite being present at the Supreme State Security Prosecution’s office, as they were not informed of the whereabouts of their defendants until after the renewal session ended. It was later revealed that they were detained in the 10th of Ramadan prison.
It is worth mentioning that a number of workers were summoned by security forces since February 29, following the end of their one-week strike. They returned to work on February 29, after the Minister of Public Enterprises included them in the decision to raise the minimum wage to 6,000 pounds monthly. However, some of them appeared before the State Security Prosecution in case No. 717 of 2024, charged with joining an illegal group and spreading false news and rumors, while the company management issued warnings of dismissal to some them, and others remain forcibly disappeared since that date.
