The Egyptian authorities have decided to release 3 young Egyptian online content makers known as “Cleanliness of the Ghalaba”, who were arrested on charges of spreading false news, following they published a song mocking the recent price hikes, according to an Egyptian human rights organization.
And the “Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights” published on its website, on Sunday, that the State Security Prosecution “decided on Saturday to release the cynical defendants known as Zafaa Al Ghalaba.”
In March, the group had published a video clip on the Tik Tok application mocking the high food prices, in which the group members used household tools to look like musical instruments and exchanged the lyrics of a romantic song with words that mocked the high food prices.
Egyptian authorities arrest a team #blessings Because of their videos on the #tiktok pic.twitter.com/bjCWxcZx0x
— Abdulaziz Mujahed | Abdulaziz Mujahed (@elmogahed02) April 21, 2022
Recently, the Egyptians resorted to deducting their savings to face the current wave of inflation following the price index jumped 12.1%, which is the highest rate in three years, and was caused by the Central Bank’s decision to devalue the local currency by regarding 18% once morest the US dollar.
The Russian invasion of Ukraine at the end of last February also caused a rise in food and fuel prices worldwide.
According to the Egyptian Initiative, “the three young men voluntarily went to the State Security headquarters in Assiut Governorate, and were detained. They were presented to the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo only on April 18 and 19, when the prosecution charged them with joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.”
Egypt is witnessing a wave of releases recently, as 41 prisoners of conscience and politics, who had been in pretrial detention, were released.
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi re-formed the presidential pardon committee last month, which raised expectations for the release of a large number of prisoners of conscience.
At the end of April, El-Sisi pardoned Egyptian journalist Hossam Mounes, who was imprisoned for “spreading false news.”
Earlier this month, the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate announced the release of three journalists from pretrial detention.
Human rights organizations estimate the number of political prisoners in Egypt at regarding 60,000, but Sisi always denies this.
And last week, Reporters Without Borders released the World Press Freedom Index for 2022, and Egypt ranked 168 out of 180 countries, down two places from last year.
