Amin el-Mahdy, the Egyptian author and publisher who was popularly known for criticizing the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, has died days after being released from a brief detention.
The 68 year old was on September 9th arrested after a Facebook post where he described the Egyptian President as “a murderer, traitor, coward, and thief.” He was later released three weeks after on 30 September.
President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, a former army general, assumed office after toppling the government of his predecessor Mohamed Morsi in 2013.
Through his publications and writings, Mahdy publicly opposed both Sisi and the Muslim Brotherhood from which Morsi hailed.
Before his arrest, Amin el-Mahdy had earlier proposed an initiative to peacefully topple the “central military feudal republic”.
He called for bringing military rule to an end by “restructuring the army into a modern, professional, small army whose primary function is to train, maintain, and discuss defense plans.”
An opposition movement which claims to be set up by inspirations from Mahdy’s writings, has accused the Egyptian Government of being responsible for Mahdy’s death. The group claimed that the government had poisoned Mahdy.
The group could not independently verify the claims, however this isn’t the first time the Egyptian government has faced similar accusations in recent years.
Four Sisi critics who previously were affiliated with his government but later turned against him and are based in Europe the United States, are regarded as the founding fathers of the movement which goes by the name Qadreen (We Can).
In a press statement on Sunday, the movement said “The information we’ve received that he was poisoned by the current Egyptian military regime, which confirms our previous declaration and Amin El Mahdy’s concerns he had informed us himself during his imprisonment of the vigorous attempts to assassinate him.”
“Qadreen in turn is accusing the Egyptian ruling regime of poisoning Amin El Mahdi and we are requesting the attorney general to hold an investigation into his death.”
According to Mohamed Saad Khiralla, a member of Qadreen, Mahdy was “in good health” as at when he was arrested.
