January 2, 2020

After six years in prison, the criminal court in southern Cairo has
released Abdel Rahman el-Gendi, 24, following a decision by the
Attorney General to suspend his 15-year prison sentence because it
violates the Child Law.
On October 6, 2013, security forces arrested el-Gendi who was
accompanying his father from the vicinity of Ramses Square.
El-Gendi and his father were later forcibly disappeared before being
accused by the prosecution of attempted killing, gathering for the
purpose of obstructing the implementation of laws, and attempting to
storm Tahrir Square, in what has become known in the media as the Al-
Azbakeya events.
El-Gendi was then younger than 18-years, so he was a child. Article (111)
of the Child Law stipulates that neither the death penalty nor life
imprisonment nor an aggravated prison sentence shall be imposed on
someone who was not over the age of 18 at the time the crime was
committed.
The Court of Cassation issued a decision in March 2016 to reduce the
sentences in cases for all those who were underage at the time of their
arrest to three years, according to the Child Law, but the decision was
not applied to Abdel Rahman el-Gendi.
His lawyer filed a petition to reconsider the case and his family filed a
complaint to the Attorney General to issue a decision stopping the
execution of the ruling until the court decided to release him by
guarantee of his residence.
El-Gendi was a scholarship student at the Faculty of Engineering at the
German University in Cairo at the time of his arrest, but the university
dismissed him after the ruling, so he decided to complete his studies
inside the prison at the Faculty of Engineering at Ain Shams University
where he obtained a bachelor’s degree.
El-Gendi wrote many letters and articles about the violations and
difficulties facing political detainees in Egypt.