Minors Mohamed Kamal and Ahmed Othman were released on 16 December 2011, several weeks after the United Nations Working Group adopted Opinion No. 57/2011 finding their detention arbitrary and requesting the Egyptian authorities release them immediately. It also called on the Egyptian government to provide them with reparation for their arbitrary, or illegal, detention

Mr Nimr, Mr Tony and Mr Saifuddin, were arrested following their participation in a protest against the policies adopted by their local City Council in June 2011.

Mr Sayed Mohammed Abdullah Nimr (aged 45), Mr Islam Abdullah Ali Tony (aged 20) and Mr Ahmed Maher Hosni Saifuddin (aged 31) were arrested from their perspective homes on 21 June 2011, and charged with inciting people to assemble and attack the President of the City Council. They remained at the police station, where they suffered ill-treatment, until they were transferred to the New Valley prison.

Maikel Nabil Sanad, considered the first prisoner of conscience since the ousting of former President Hosni Mubarak, was released on Tuesday 24 January 2012, a day before the anniversary of the outbreak of the 2011 Egyptian revolution. Mr Sanad, a well known blogger and critic of military rule, was detained for 10 month following an unfair trial before a military court.

Immediately Free Emergency Law Detainees, Transfer Cases to Regular Courts

January 24, 2012

(New York) – The Egyptian military's announcement on January 24, 2012, that it will lift the state of emergency except in cases of "thuggery" is an invitation to continued abuse, Alkarama and Human Rights Watch said today. The two rights groups said that the government should use the regular penal code and civilian criminal courts to address alleged criminal activity. It should also repeal Law 34, which criminalizes participation in strikes during a state of emergency.