ALBAWABA - Egyptian authorities announced that they have arrested around 60 people for joining a political opposition group on Discord, a platform mainly used among gamers across the globe, as reported by AFP, citing a lawyer currently handling some of the cases.
Head of the legal unit at the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, Shorouk Sallam, revealed that several suspects were charged with joining a "terrorist" group to spread false news and misuse social media platforms. She added, "Arrests began at the end of last year, but starting mid-May the pace has picked up, and now 60 people have been arrested."
Egypt arrests 60 people for joining opposition Discord server
According to AFP, the suspects joined "GenZ002," a Discord server founded by an "Egyptian dissident living abroad, Anas Habib, as part of a campaign in which he calls on Egyptians to express their opposition through methods such as graffiti or distributing pamphlets."
He also called for the removal of the current Egyptian president, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, via an online poll.
Reports indicate that Anas Habib was arrested twice last year, once in Amsterdam for allegedly assaulting the Egyptian Embassy, and the other in Brussels for allegedly threatening Sisi during a visit.
Discord got temporarily blocked in Egypt and Jordan after the platform played a role in the Gen Z protests that flooded Nepal and Morocco's streets last year. The platform has also been banned in the UAE, Oman, China, Turkey and Iran.
