Egypt frees Bedouin activist after three years

Egypt released Tuesday Bedouin activist and blogger Mosaad Abu Fagr after almost three years of imprisonment as the government steps up its efforts to diffuse tension in the strategic Sinai Peninsula.

Mosaad Suleiman Abu Fagr, 41, was detained in December 2007 for allegedly possessing firearms without a license and instigating Sinai Bedouins to protest the government's discriminatory practices against the disenfranchised group.

According to newspaper reports and human rights organizations, Abu Fagr was arrested for writing about human rights violations in the Sinai Peninsula. Abu Fagr has a blog called "We want to live" which calls for granting Bedouins equal rights.

Despite 20 court rulings that ordered his release, Abu Fagr was held in custody in Borg al-Arab prison in Alexandria for 31 months under the emergency law, which allows the government to detain without trial people suspected of involvement in terrorist or subversive activities.

Abu Fagr views his release as an attempt on the government's part to appease the restive Bedouin community, especially in the light of the latest violence upsurge in the peninsula.

"The government is trying to exonerate itself by releasing me," Abu Fagr said.

"The situation is really bad in Sinai. It is very critical and the government has finally come to realize that after a group of its own citizens took up arms against it for the first time."

The government is trying to exonerate itself by releasing me

Mosaad Abu Fagr

Rocky relationship

The relationship between Bedouin tribes in Sinai and the government has always been quite uneasy not only because of negligence of the area and its residents, but also because of the accusation the authorities hurl at them and which range from drug and weapons smuggling to engagement in terrorist activities.

The relationship reached its worst when a series of bomb attacks in several Sinai resorts triggered the arrest and detention without trial of thousands of Sinai Bedouins between 2004 and 2006.

Sporadic clashes with security forces further soured the relationship between the authorities and Bedouins, yet tension reached its peak in recent weeks as tribesmen attacked a humanitarian convoy bound for Gaza and tried to blow up a natural gas pipeline close to the border with Israel.

Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adly met last month with Bedouin elders and promised to release detainees.

The elders specifically demanded the release of Mosaad Abu Fagr and another two activists, Ibrahim al-Arjani and Mohamed Eissa, detained for organizing protests amongst the 200,000 Bedouins of northern Sinai.

So far, around 70, including Arjani and Eissa, were set free and an estimated 400 remain in custody.

During the meeting, Bedouin elders also demanded that the government open an investigation into the killing of three tribesmen by police officers in 2007.