Egypt charges minor with plotting to overthrow government

Omar al-Brashi, a first year high school student was arrested while sitting for an exam at his school.

He was charged with international espionage, belonging to a prohibited group and plotting to overthrow the government.

Prosecutors in Damietta have ordered the boy be detained for 15 days for interrogation according to sources close to al-Bashri's family.

"Security forces stormed the exam hall to the surprise of Omar's schoolmates who tried to convinced the forces to allow Omar to finish sitting his exam," said Magdy Ahmad, one of al-Bashri's relatives.

"An altercation took place outside the school between security forces and students because of the arrest," added Ahmad.

Since November 2014, Egyptian authorities have arrested over 1,000 minors.

At least eight of those minors have been sentenced to death or life in prison.

Egypt's ministry of interior recently announced that it would allow 3,462 detained students to sit their mid-term exams, which rights groups say is far less than the actual numbers of detained students.

"The number of detained students that was announced by the ministry of interior is huge, but it does not include those forcibly disappeared. What is the real number of detained students?" said a statement by the International Coalition for Freedoms and Rights (ICFR).

Last year, ICFR reported that Egyptian authorities had arrested 2,170 minors between the ages of nine and 17 since the ousting of Islamist president Mohamed Morsi in July 2013.

It also said that 217 children were killed in various raids and clashes, and documented 948 cases of children tortured by security forces and 78 cases of sexual violence against minors during the same period.