Egyptian police arrested on Thursday a leading political activist who was active in the 2011 uprising against former President Hosni Mubarak, Al-Ahram reports.
The activist, Alaa Abdel-Fattah, was arrested after the prosecutor ordered he be detained for inciting protests.
Abdel-Fattah’s wife, Manal Hassan, tweeted that policemen beat and insulted her while arresting her husband, in addition to taking their laptops and cellphones.
Alaa Abdel-Fattah was a symbol of the 2011 uprising against Mubarak.
According to Al-Ahram, he was ordered arrested after taking part in protests organized in defiance of a new law that imposes heavy restrictions on demonstrations.
On Sunday, Egypt’s interim president, signed the new law which stipulates that any group that attempts to hold a public gathering without permits will find its members carted off to prison.
The new law was met with anger by protesters who took to the streets in defiance of the new orders.
Egypt has been in turmoil since Mubarak’s ouster, but things have gotten worse in recent months since his successor, Mohammed Morsi, was ousted in July.
More than 1,000 people, mainly Morsi supporters, have been killed since July 3 when he was ousted and authorities have rounded up some 2,000 Islamists, including most of the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood, of which Morsi is a member.
The Egyptian government just recently lifted a state of emergency that was declared on August 14, the day of the crackdown on the protesters.
On Wednesday, a court in Egypt sentenced 21 female supporters of Morsi to 11 years in prison.
They were found guilty of multiple charges, including belonging to a terrorist group, obstructing traffic, sabotage and using force at a protest in the city of Alexandria last month.