By Jihad Abaza, Aswat Masriya The number of detained students cited in the interior ministry’s statement on in-prison exams “reveals” the extent of “oppression against students in Egypt,” a student rights worker told Aswat Masriya on Thursday. The interior ministry said in a statement on Tuesday that it will “allow” 3,462 students to take their exams inside prison, in coordination with the ministry of education. The statement did not specify the number of students convicted in political cases as opposed to criminal prisoners. Amru Kilany works for the Justice Centre, an NGO that provides support for detained students. He told Aswat Masriya that there are 2,200 students who are “prisoners of conscience” or are detained in political cases. One thousand and fifty of these students were arrested in the academic year of 2014-2015, he added. More recently, security forces arrested 20 students on Jan. 25, according to the Justice Centre’s records. The day marks the fifth anniversary of the 2011 Uprising that toppled then-President Hosni Mubarak after he ruled the country for 30 years. Kilany said that the Justice Centre has been assisting imprisoned students with the necessary procedures for exams….
