CAIRO: All 18 activists detained Monday in connection with a protest outside Egypt's State Council have been released. Rawda Ahmed, a lawyer with the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) told Daily News Egypt that the group - most of whom are members of the April 6 Youth Movement - were released on Monday evening. Ahmed said that 16 of the group were detained at Dokki police station, where they were kept in a police truck parked outside the police station from approximately 1 pm until their release at around 11:30 pm. The remaining two activists were detained in the state security headquarters in Maadi. They were arrested while on the Helwan Road en route to the State Council in Dokki. On April 30, 2009 the April 6 Youth Movement announced its intention to hold a protest on Monday outside the State Council whose administrative judiciary heard the ongoing and controversial case concerning the export of gas to Israel. The hearing also coincided with President Hosni Mubarak s birthday, and the Youth Movement's demonstration was also a protest against Mubarak s rule.
