Today eight advocacy groups filed a complaint with the Public Prosecutor against the Minister of Interior and several police personnel with the Marg police station regarding the arrest of Albert Saber Ayyad and his detention without a warrant from the prosecution and without being apprehended in the commission of a crime, on the grounds that several residents of Marg filed a complaint against him accusing him of defaming religion. The complaint filed by the advocacy groups also noted that Ayyad’s mother, Kariman Masiha Ghali Masiha was expelled from her home by force and threat, and some local residents incited against her and her son Albert, who was beaten, tortured and wounded with a razor blade while in custody at the Marg police station, to compel him to give false statements to Public Prosecution. In addition, Marg police investigations broke into his home and entered it when no one was there while carrying out a search ordered by the Public Prosecution. Finally, Ayyad was placed in an undisclosed location after he was detained for 15 days pending an investigation, and his family has been unable to visit him and ascertain his condition. 

The Public Prosecutor referred the complaint (no. 3472/2012/Public Prosecutor Complaints) to the East Cairo Prosecution for investigation. 

The organizations that filed the complaint are: 

• Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
• Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
• Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
• Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
• Hisham Mubarak Law Center
• Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights
• Nazra for Feminist Studies
• Andalus Center for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies