Egypt frees businessman, son after 2 years of detention

CAIRO (AP) — Egyptian authorities launched a outstanding businessman and his son after greater than two years in pre-trial detention whereas officers investigated doable terrorism-related prices, their household mentioned.

Safwan Thabet, founder and former CEO of dairy and juice producer Juhayna Meals Industries, and his son Seif el-Din Thabet, walked free late Saturday, the household mentioned.

“My father Safwan Thabet and my brother Seif el-Din Thabet are with us,” daughter Mariam Thabet wrote on Fb. She later posted pictures exhibiting her hugging her father and brother.

State-run media additionally reported their launch however there was no official remark.

Authorities arrested Safwan Thabet in December 2020, and he remained in detention pending an investigation into accusations that he helped fund a terrorist group — a reference to the the Muslim Brotherhood, which Egypt banned as a terrorist group.

His son, Seif, was detained two months in a while the identical prices, which included harming the nation’s economic system, in response to the state-run Al-Ahram every day.

Neither man was ever tried in courtroom.

The releasing of the 2 males was the newest in a collection of releases of pro-democracy activists and authorities critics in current months.

Over the previous yr, Egypt launched or pardoned dozens of detainees because the nation’s human rights document got here below worldwide scrutiny when it hosted the U.N. local weather change summit in November. The federal government additionally launched into a dialogue with its critics.

The Egyptian authorities has been relentless in its silencing of dissenters and clamped down on unbiased organizations with arrests, detentions, jail sentences and different restrictions.