The campaign calling for the release of the young Egyptian Ayman Moussa, a student of the Faculty of Engineering at the British University in Cairo, has escalated dramatically in the last hours, after the interaction of a number of artists, media professionals, athletes and social media celebrities.
The hashtag (# Presidential Pardon_Ayman_Moussa) has recently entered the list of the most traded on Twitter in Egypt, and the tag - in addition to similar hashtags, among them (# Freedom_Yemen_Moussa) and (# 8_Years_Enough) - has received wide interaction on the communication sites, where thousands participated in blogging through it to demand By releasing the young Ayman Moussa.
The young man was arrested during events that took place in Ramses Square (central Cairo) on the sixth of October 2013, in a gathering case involving 68 others, and charges were brought against them, including "attempted premeditated murder," "destroying public property," and " Resisting the authorities. "
After referring the detainees to the Criminal Court, all of them were sentenced to 15 years of strict imprisonment, in addition to submitting to police surveillance for another 5 years, and after a year and a half the Court of Cassation rejected the defendants' appeal, and thus the verdict became final and final.
The interaction began to mark the request for pardon for Ayman with the help of his brother Sharif, through his Facebook account, 3 days ago, and he had a wide interaction that exceeded 20 thousand of the site's visitors, and it was republished more than 17 thousand times, to turn into a humanitarian appeal and a large-scale campaign To demand the release of Ayman.
Sharif Musa's publication included an explanation of his family's suffering after the arrest of Ayman, who since the sixth of this month has exceeded half of his sentence, and a number of Sharif in his post the characteristics of his brother, indicating that he was "an outstanding student and a respectable athlete," pointing out that most of those who were with him in the case included them. presidential pardon.
In the post, Sharif appealed to the officials to "look at Ayman with compassion and paternity, treating him as a young son even if he made a mistake," and demanded that he be given a "second chance," adding "7 and a half years is not enough? Adequacy".
In addition to the solidarity campaign through the communication sites, Ayman's family and a number of his companions - including former detainees - launched an electronic petition to demand a presidential pardon, after he had served half of his sentence, and had the interaction of thousands of solidarity activists.
Help by signing the petition to demand the release of Ayman by the text of the period, so that he may not finish 15 full years in prison https://t.co/2uCbSzCQnb# Freedom_Ayman_Moussa # Presidential pardon_Aman_Moussa # 8_ years_ enough pic.twitter.com/bU04YiDQm
- Mona Seif (@Monasosh) April 3, 2021
The petitioners indicated that the law allows the conditional release of a prisoner who completes half of his sentence, and that this is the only legal way out other than a presidential pardon, and called on the petitioners to contribute to signing it to help Ayman, who lost "the best years of his life without guilt," in obtaining His freedom.
A number of celebrities participated in the solidarity campaign with Ayman, most notably actress Reham Abdel Ghafour, director Mohamed Al Adl, director Hisham Afifi, international squash player Tariq Moamen, journalist Sally Daly, actress Yusra Al Hawari, and fashion designer Muhannad Kojak, in addition to famous pages that are followed by Millions.
# Presidential pardon_Ayman_Moussapic.twitter.com/d0gj4L0kVm
- Salma el Daly (@salmaeldaly) April 8, 2021
The interaction of the participants in the campaign demanding a pardon for Ayman included the assertion that his case is primarily humanitarian, and that he deserves this presidential pardon even if he was wrong, especially with the expiration of half of his sentence, while a number of them invoked examples of those who had previously been pardoned, despite their conviction of more severe crimes. From what Ayman was convicted of.
In this context, a number of the interlocutors denounced that the criminals who were found guilty of crimes against society, such as premeditated murder and drug promotion, were granted a presidential pardon, while those arrested in political cases were denied it.
Hundreds of bloggers expressed their regret at the loss of nearly 8 years of the life of a young man who excelled in his studies and many sports, fearing that these wasted years would multiply if the authorities did not respond to the campaign demanding an amnesty for Ayman.
A number of those who lived through Ayman during some of his imprisonment years before he was released, participated in blogging through the campaign, reviewing aspects of his suffering, his hopes that were dispelled with the prolonged years of imprisonment, and the difficult moments he went through after learning of his father's death in 2015.
#Egypt
Ayman Moussa is an outstanding student and athlete.
He was arrested in October 2013 and sentenced to 15 years for protesting.
He was 19 at the time, and now he's 27 years old.
The best years of his life wasted behind bars. # SaveAymanMoussa # Presidential PardonMoussa pic.twitter.com/BpdoATzdoV
- Salma El Hosseiny (@salma_ishr) April 8, 2021
What is his name?
Ayman Musa, what did you do
?
An engineering student at the British University, where
?
In prison in Egypt, what is
left for him?
8 years what
his crime?
Participating in a demonstration,
what was its shape?
See the image on the
left, what remains its shape?
See the photo on the right # Freedom_Ayman_Moussi #Pardon_Presidental_yemen_Moussa #Pardon_Riyasi_Layman_Mousse pic.twitter.com/NswnAcYqE1
- Finished (@noha_fahmyy) April 8, 2021
Participation and solidarity with Ayman Moussa does not have anything to do with politics.
De humane.
8 years is enough.
Presidential pardon for Ayman Moussa, Presidential pardon for Ayman Moussa, freedom for Ayman Moussa.
- Marrrriam (@thisissomariam) April 8, 2021
I cannot imagine 7 years of leaving a young man’s life and his academic future is lost because of no need… This is wasted without any logical reason.
- iShamy (@ mshami_78) April 8, 2021
Ayman Moussa was a top student at the Faculty of Engineering at the British University in Cairo, and he reached his second year there before his dismissal because he was unable to attend the college halls, as he was detained, then decided to transfer to the Faculty of Economics and Political Science at the same university, and succeeded in graduating from it in November 2020 .
Ayman was also a professional player in scuba diving and parkour, and worked as a coach for water polo at the Heliopolis Sports Club, as well as a member of the Egyptian national diving team.
And 4 years ago, a video of the graduation ceremony of Ayman Moussa's class - which he started with at the Faculty of Engineering - received wide interaction, as they uploaded his picture and chanted his name.