Egypt frees human rights lawyer

Cairo: Egyptian authorities on Sunday released a renowned human rights lawyer arrested after protests against President Abdul Fattah Al Sissi’s decision to hand over two islands to Saudi Arabia.

Malek Adly had been held in pretrial detention since being arrested by plainclothes police on May 5.

His defence team confirmed his release.

“The case has not been referred to trial yet,” Tareq Khater, one of Adly’s lawyers, told AFP.

Adly had supported protests in April against the decision to hand over two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia.

Al Sissi has defended the move, saying the islands were Saudi to begin with and were leased to Egypt in the 1950s.

The former army chief come to power after toppling his Islamist predecessor Mohammad Mursi in 2013.