We, the undersigned academics and scholars, condemn the detention of Central European University Master’s student Ahmed Samir Santawy by Egyptian authorities. We call on the Egyptian government to release him, as well as researchers similarly detained under false charges.
On February 1, 2021, Ahmed was forcibly disappeared while visiting family in Egypt for the academic break period. On February 6, the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered his detention for 15 days pending police investigations. According to his lawyer, the State Security Prosecutor formally charged Ahmed with “joining a terrorist group with prior knowledge of its objectives, broadcasting false news aimed…