Artists appeal to El-Sisi to free detainees in play seen as insult to security forces

CAIRO: Theater artists in Egypt have appealed to the country’s president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to release a playwright and a director who have been arrested for their involvement in a play seen as insulting to security forces.
Playwright Walid Atef, director Ahmed Al-Garhy, and officials of a Cairo sports club where the play was staged, were arrested last week and are being investigated by military prosecutors for a play about a police conscript called “Suleiman Khater.”
Theatrical artists appealed to President El-Sisi to release Atef and Garhy.
In a joint statement, the artists said the “Suleiman Khater” troupe presented a play where they wore army clothes out of love and appreciation for the “brave Egyptian army soldiers.”
The statement added that their only mistake was donning military uniform without permission.
Such a mistake could have been avoided informing them, instead of arresting them and pressing charges against them.
The play’s title is the name of a police conscript, Suleiman Khater, who killed seven Israeli tourists in the Sinai Peninsula in 1985. He was sentenced to life in prison but was found dead in his cell a year later.