Egyptian youths demand release of prisoners

Thousands of young Egyptians have called for the release of the prisoners arrested after the ouster of former President Mohamed Morsi last year, Press TV reports.

In a Sunday rally marking the foundation date of the April 6 Youth Movement, the protesters chanted slogans against the military-backed government and its heavy-handed treatment of peaceful demonstrators.

The protestors gathered outside the Journalists Syndicate in the capital, Cairo, after security forces closed all entrances to iconic Tahrir Square, where protests were born against former dictator Hosni Mubarak.

The revolutionary Youth group played a key role in the 2011 revolution that ousted Mubarak.

Since the revolution, “nothing has changed, what is taking place now is even worse than what existed under ousted Mubarak,” a protester told Press TV.

The protesters also called on the government to release political activists, including Ahmed Maher and Ahmed Douma, the founding members of the movement.

The group has launched a campaign to collect online petitions calling for the release of all political prisoners.

Last month, an Egyptian court sentenced to death 529 supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood, which is sympathetic to Morsi.

Egypt has been experiencing unrelenting violence since Morsi was ousted on July 3, 2013.

In November, the military-backed authorities passed a law banning all but police-sanctioned protests. Since then, hundreds of anti-government protesters have been jailed for breaking the law.

Rights groups say at least 1,400 people have been killed in the violence since the ouster of Morsi, “most of them due to excessive force used by security forces.”