Egypt prosecutor extends detention of boy over Rabaa ruler

Egyptian prosecutors have extended the detention of a 15-year-old boy arrested earlier last month over a pro-Muslim Brotherhood sticker on his ruler, according to media reports on Monday.

Khaled Mohammad Bakara was detained after his school teacher saw the sticker and reported him to the police.

The sticker shows the Rabaa hand gesture used by supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood and its ousted President Mohammad Mursi.

Bakara was detained for 15 days for possessing a ruler bearing the sign that is considered by authorities to encourage “violence” and is an “offense” to the armed forces, the Telegraph reported.

Bakara has been ordered to serve a further 15 days in detention in Egypt’s northern governorate of Kafr el-Sheikh, reported the paper.

Prosecutors have also issued arrest warrants for two of the boy’s teachers and his father.

The father, Mohammad Abdulghani Bakara, is wanted for “inciting” Khaled to place the stickers on a ruler and two notebooks, the newspaper reported.

“Khaled has confessed that the ruler is his own, so there is no need to keep him in jail without bringing him to court,” his lawyer, Amr Ali al-Deen, said in statements carried by the Telegraph.

“But the prosecutor is now afraid to bring the case to court as it will harm his reputation even more than his reputation has already suffered. The case doesn’t even rise to the level of a misdemeanor,” he added.