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The father of a 15-year-old schoolboy jailed without trial for carrying a subversive ruler has also been summoned for questioning by prosecutors, the family's lawyer says.
Mohamed Bakara is under investigation for allegedly inciting his son Khaled to carry a ruler bearing a controversial pro-Morsi symbol.
Khaled was arrested at his school three weeks ago after his teacher saw the offending piece of stationery on his desk. He has since been jailed in an adult jail while he awaits the start of legal proceedings – even though Egyptian legislation sets criminal penalties for officials who detain children with adult prisoners. Two of Khaled's other teachers have also now been placed under investigation.
"It's very weird and strange," Khaled's uncle, Mabrouk Bakara, told the Guardian. "It wasn't enough for [the local prosecutors] for the father to feel injustice and sadness about his son – now he also finds himself accused without any reason or evidence."
Egyptian officials did not respond to a request for comment at the time of writing. The foreign ministry – which acts as a conduit for queries left unanswered by other state institutions – would not comment on the details of the case but told the Guardian last week that the country's judicial system followed "due process".
Amr Abdel Maqsoud, lawyer for both father and son, claimed the prosecution was pursuing political cases instead of dangerous criminals.
"The public prosecution has released a weapon holder along with a drug-dealer in the same week of arresting a student because of a ruler," Maqsoud said. "The public prosecution is not neutral any more, and no [longer] a representative of the people."
Known as the Rabaa sign, the symbol on Khaled's ruler consists of a four-fingered salute on a yellow background. Named after the Rabaa al-Adawiya protest camp – where hundreds of Morsi supporters were killed by state forces in August – it has become a calling card for the mainly Islamist opponents of Morsi's overthrow. The government and its backers have tried to stamp out the sign's use in case its popularity disproves the claim that most Egyptians support Morsi's overthrow.
The suppression of the Rabaa sign is part of a wider crackdown on dissent in Egypt. Thousands of other protesters arrested since July are thought to remain in jail – many of them uncharged.
The crackdown has extended even to high-profile non-Islamist activists who called for Morsi's removal in June – after criticising his own authoritarianism. At least 25 secular activists – including two famous for their role in Hosni Mubarak's 2011 overthrow, Ahmed Maher and Alaa Abdel Fatah – were sent for trial in a criminal court for allegedly organising protests rendered illegal by new legislation.
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