The Supreme State Security Prosecution has decided to renew the detention of political activist Sherif El-Rouby, accusing him of joining a banned group and spreading false news.

Human rights groups have condemned the re-arrest of El-Rouby, just three months after his release. They said that his re-arrest contradicts the declared intentions of the Presidential Pardon Committee and its endeavour to release political detainees. They added that El-Ruby’s re-arrest is an outright threat to all those recently released. El-Rouby had spent nearly a year and a half in prison on charges of spreading false news. He is now facing the same accusations.

The Committee for Justice and El-Nadeem Center against Violence and Torture said that the reason for the re-arrest was statements on the suffering faced by detainees and former detainees El-Rouby made to Al-Jazeera on September 4. They called on the Egyptian authorities to stop these practices, stressing that all those recently released are at risk of being arrested again.