• 11:30
  • Thursday ,18 April 2013
العربية

April 6 to protest detention of Egyptian lawyer in Saudi

By-Ahram

Home News

00:04

Thursday ,18 April 2013

April 6 to protest detention of Egyptian lawyer in Saudi

 April 6 Youth Movement (Democratic Front) has announced plans to join forces with the family of Ahmed El-Gizawi, an Egyptian lawyer detained in Saudi Arabia, in a silent protest on Wednesday outside the Saudi Arabian embassy in Cairo.

The protest, which marks a year since El-Gizawi's detention, will press for his release and condemn "negligence by the Egyptian authorities and Saudi Arabia's intransigent position on the issue."
 
In January, a Saudi court sentenced El-Gizawi to five years in jail and 300 lashes.
 
He was detained by Saudi authorities in April 2012 as he entered the kingdom to perform Umrah, a Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, for allegedly smuggling drugs into the country.
 
A march will begin from Cairo University in Giza to the Saudi embassy in Dokki, the group said in a Tuesday statement.
 
The youth group also announced its intention to send a delegation to meet the Saudi ambassador to request an amnesty for El-Gizawi.
 
Egyptian activists say the charges were trumped up by the Saudis after El-Gizawi's public denunciation of human rights violations in the Gulf kingdom.
 
Egyptians have arranged several protests over his arrest, leading the Saudis to recall their ambassador in April 2012.