Iran Press/ Africa: Amnesty International has urged the Egyptian authorities to release hundreds of people it said were arrested during anti-government protests in September.
Activists claim that a number of these protests have been fuelled by economic frustrations made worse by the coronavirus pandemic, and by a sweeping government campaign to stop illegal construction (especially in rural and low-income areas), which has required people to pay fines to legalize home-ownership.
Protests have been effectively banned in Egypt since 2013, and a renewable state of emergency has been in place since 2017, a measure that rights groups claim has allowed the government to crush dissent.
Al-Sisi came to power in Egypt in July 2013, after he deposed the country's first democratically elected president, Mohammad Morsi.
104/207
Read more:
Egyptian protesters demand al-Sisi's departure
Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood leader sentenced to life imprisonment
