Family members of those arrested while protested at the US Embassy, as well as the families of convicts serving sentences, protested separately in front of the presidential palace Saturday.
Families of those detained at the US Embassy protests held signs saying, “Amnesty for our children detained in the US Embassy events,” “Our children are not thugs or thieves,” “Our children are students in secondary school” and “Mercy over justice.”
Hoda Ibrahim, mother of Ahmed Khalid, a detainee in the recent US Embassy clashes that occurred between security forces and protesters angered by a recent anti-Islam film, said, “My son is 17 years old, and a student in high school. He went out with his friends to celebrate his birthday, and did not know that there was a demonstration at the embassy, and did not get involved [in it]. The police arrested them while they were watching the demonstration from Qasr al-Nil Bridge.”
Sadia Sayed, ,mother of Mohamed Sobhi, another detainee, said they went to President Mohamed Morsy at Sharbatly Mosque Friday to Beg him to get their children out of prison and save their future, but the guards prevented them from seeing him.
Nearby, families of criminal and civilian prisoners demanded the abolishment of the death penalty and life imprisonment, considering them inhumane. They also demanded amnesty for chronically sick detainees and the elderly, as well as those who were able to obtain their MA or PhD degree while imprisoned, those who were first-time convicts and those whom had spent half their sentence in prison and only been convicted once before.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
