Egypt: 78 teenagers in jail for pro-Morsi protests

Egypt has been the host of massive protests asking for the return of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi. 78 teenagers were arrested and sent to jail after participating in these pro-Islamist protests. There have been huge amounts of trials held in Egypt this year, all connected to protesters demanding the president to return. Mohamed Morsi was forcefully removed by the army last year, which outraged many of his supporters.

The 78 teenagers were given jail sentences of between 2 and 5 years by a court in Alexandria, Egypt. All of the teenagers sentenced were boys under the age of 18 and were members of the Muslim Brotherhood, which was blacklisted by authorities in Egypt. According to the authorities, the youngest of the sentenced teenagers was a 15 year old boy, but the media in Egypt is saying that there are 13 year old children among those convicted.  The boys will be held in juvenile detention until they come of age, after which they will be transferred to state prisons.

The boys were arrested because they were participating in protests organized by the Muslim Brotherhood and caused chaos all over Egypt in the past year. The Muslim Brotherhood had been declared a terrorist organization last year. According to the lawyer handling the case of the arrest of the 78 teenagers, some of those arrested were not even participating in the protests, but were at the wrong spot at the wrong time, as collateral.  Egypt has been the target of the Muslim Brotherhood ever since Morsi was removed from office. People asked for his removal in massive protests last year, accusing the president of monopolizing power and ruining Egypt’s economy even more.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt is said to be responsible for hundreds of terrorist attacks that have resulted in the death of civilians, as well as police officers and security forces. It seems that Egypt’s situation is becoming increasingly worrisome, with hundreds of children being suspected of collaboration with the Muslim Brotherhood. At the same time, the most active jihadist group in Egypt, Asar Beit al-Maqdis has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State, which is bad news to say the least. Citizens are hoping that such groups will not prevail and Egypt will remain safe from the Islamic State, even though recent events are pointing the other way.