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Alert

Security forces detain Internet activist Rami al-Swisi, third in less than a month

(ANHRI/IFEX) - ANHRI has condemned the security forces' detention of Facebook activist Rami al-Swisi. Security forces personnel broke into al-Swisi's home in Haram, Giza at 3:30 a.m. (local time), on 2 March 2009. They searched the activist's home and took some of his personal property, including his cell phone, laptop and wallet. They then took him in a Toyota car, with license plate number 403767, to an unknown location.

Ahmed Maher, an activist with the 6th of April movement, told ANHRI that al-Swisi told him he received calls from state security officers demanding that he appear before them. When he refused, he was threatened several times in an attempt to pressure him into leaving the 6th of April movement.

According to ANHRI, the fact that the police were not held responsible for detaining Philip Rizk and Dia Eddin Gad on 6 February encouraged the security forces to go ahead with the illegal detention of al-Swisi, making it the third such detention in less than a month. ANHRI added that significant pressure has to be placed on prosecutors to bring the officers responsible for al-Swisi's detention to justice, especially given that the licence plate number of the car he was taken away in is known.

Al-Swisi, 21, is a student at a language institute and an activist in the 6th of April youth movement.

For further information on the Philip Rizk and Dia Eddin Gad cases, see: http://www.ifex.org/en/content/view/full/100714