Attorney General Abdel Maguid Mahmoud has ordered the release of 42 people detained in connection with last month's riots in Cairo's Omraniya district between Coptic protesters and security forces. Mahmoud also ordered the continued detention of 42 others. The South Giza Court on Monday was surrounded by security forces, preventing access to the court by detainees' relatives, who gathered outside the court building and chanted slogans calling for the release of the remaining detainees. Meanwhile, dozens of activists protested in front of the court building calling for a unified law on construction of mosques and churches. Protesters included activists from several political movements, including the Justice and Freedom Movement, the Freedom Youth Front and the Coptic Youth Front. The Coptic Church, for its part, welcomed the detainees' release. It also called for the release of those still in detention before the upcoming Christmas holiday, asserting that there was "no excuse" to hold them any longer. In related news, Attorney General Hamdy Farouk ordered the arrest of Abdel Rahman Aly of the Ahnasia Township in Beni Sueif, who on Friday was accused of abducting a Coptic girl. Prosecutors have questioned the girl's father, who accused Aly--who works in Hurghada--of abducting his daughter as she was leaving a local church. Translated from the Arabic Edition.
