Dear readers
My colleague today pointed out that a fellow professor has been arrested by the military. Amr El-Shalakany, a well known law professor, and a faculty member at the American University in Cairo, has apparently been arrested and will be tried by a military court. On April 29, 2011, the Daily News Egypt (English edition) reported that Professor El Shalakany was arrested two days ago in the Suez for allegedly "insulting the supreme military council," and even more fantastically causing riots and burning a police station.
The Daily News Reports that "Initially he was to be released Friday when the detaining officers suddenly decided to transfer him to Suez for a trial under martial law."
I do not know Professor El Shalakany well, but I do know him. We work on the same floor at The American University in Cairo. Philip Weiss is also covering El Shalakany's detention. Amr organized an event for faculty and staff in support of the revolution that I attended, and published on my blog. He has written several columns in the New York Times. 
As an attorney, as an AUC faculty member, and as a supporter of freedom of speech and the rule of law, I am really worried about Amr. I think we need to realize that we are all at risk now. I do not know what happened out in Sharm el Sheikh, but at a minimum, Amr deserves a free and fair trial, and I do not believe that a military trial is appropriate.
I am a khagawa, and I am scared, and I do not know what to do. How can we help him?
