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December 29, 2009

UPDATE: RELEASED! US EMBASSY IN CAIRO REFUSES TO RELEASE QUARANTINED US CITIZEN GAZA FREEDOM MARCH ADVOCATES

UPDATE (2:51 PM EG) – Marina has reported via telephone that the group members are being released one-by-one after passing through an office in the Embassy. She hasn't had her turn yet, details additional details are not available. The good news is that the incident is resolving itself and it was not reported that any of the group members had been harmed.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact Marina Barakau
Mobile: 0197412890

CAIRO, EGYPT (GFM) Dec. 29, 2009 – In downtown Cairo this afternoon Gaza Freedom March (GFM) advocates, including a group of roughly 30 U.S. citizens, are being detained in three separate quarantine areas within the U.S. Embassy's Garden City compound.

PHOTO RIGHT: A similar scene took place in front of the French Embassy in Cairo on Dec. 27, 2009. (Aishah Schwartz)

In a telephone interview with Muslimah Writers Alliance Director, Aishah Schwartz, GFM women's group organizer, Marina Barakau stated, "American citizens and 1,400 Gaza Freedom March advocates from 43 countries worldwide are demanding that the illegal siege of Gaza be lifted."

"We also ask how it is that an alleged democratic government could willingly participate in the detainment of its own citizen nationals at their own Embassy, and further demand that all due diligence be exercised in securing our immediate release," Barakau added.

Barakau stated she has also contacted the group's legal council coordinator, Sally Newman.

In the meantime, three members of the detained U.S. citizen group are meeting with U.S. officials in the Embassy's offices.

VIDEO (begin at 2:12 mark) 

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