CAIRO?? A court in Egypt has ordered the release of three American students arrested during the unrest in Cairo, NBC News has confirmed.
Derrik Sweeney, a 19-year-old Georgetown University student, Luke Gates, a 21-year-old Indiana University student, and Gregory Porter, a 19-year-old Drexel University student, were arrested on Sunday on the roof of the American University near Tahrir Square where they were allegedly throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.
Their release, announced by their lawyer, came as protesters demanding the removal of Egypt's ruling military council observed a truce after five days of deadly street battles in which at least 40 people have died.
Egypt's military also issued a statement on Thursday apologizing for the loss of life and vowing to bring to justice those responsible for the deaths of protesters in Cairo's iconic Tahrir Square and elsewhere in the country.
Army troops have used metal bars and barbed wire to build barricades to separate the protesters and the police on side streets leading from Tahrir to the nearby Interior Ministry. Most of the fighting has been taking place on those side streets.
The truce came into force around 6 a.m. and was still holding by late morning.
Joy Sweeney said the consul general confirmed around 6 a.m. Thursday that Derrik will be released.
"I was elated, I was absolutely elated," Sweeney told The Associated Press. "I can't wait to give him a huge hug and tell him how much I love him."
She said she hoped her son will head home to Jefferson City, Mo., on Friday.
Sweeney called home late on Wednesday and said he was being treated relatively well under the circumstances but denied doing anything wrong during a protest in Cairo, she said earlier.
She had a 90-second conversation with Derrik at about 6:30 a.m. on Wednesday while he was using the phone of the consul general. She said he told her he had been fed and wasn't being tortured, and that he insisted that he hadn't done anything wrong.
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"That was just a blessing to hear his voice," she said.
"I said, 'Did you throw anything off a roof?' And he said 'No, I didn't.' And then I said, 'Did you do anything else?' He said, 'No, none of us did.'"
The parents of Sweeney and Gates said that they have been in Cairo since August, studying Arabic at the American University.
Meanwhile an American film maker and journalist was arrested by Egyptian police while documenting clashes in Tahrir Square, she told a colleague by phone.
Video: Protesters throw stones, conflict grows in Cairo (on this page)Karim Amer, the producer for Jehane Nojaim ? an award-winning film maker of Egyptian ancestry who is best-known for her al-Jazeera TV documentary "Control Room" ? said Nojaim was detained and her camera was confiscated.
Amer said he was separated from her after they both fled from tear gas.
Egyptian-American columnist and activist Mona Eltahawy, who regularly appears on news channels as a self-described "speaker on Arab and Muslim issues" was also reportedly arrested in Cairo.
"Beaten arrested in interior ministry," she posted on her Twitter account overnight.
She tweeted "I AM FREE" at about 5:30 a.m. ET, and then sent several messages saying she had been beaten and sexually assaulted, using strong language to condemn the Egyptian police.
She also said her right hand was "so swollen I can't close it." She posted a picture of her hand. She tweeted she was being taken to hospital.
The U.S. Department of State tweeted early Thursday that it was aware of the reports that Nojaim and Elthawy had been arrested and said the U.S. Embassy in Cairo was "engaging authorities."
First free election in decades
In the first significant pause in violence since Saturday, clashes stopped at midnight in Tahrir Square and elsewhere after protesters agreed with police to stay put.
But the thousands who thronged the square were undeterred in their determination to protest at the deaths of more than 30 people in the violence and reject the army's offer of a referendum on its rule.
"He goes, we won't," declared one banner in a reference to the head of the military council, Field Marshal Mohamed Hussein Tantawi.
In light of the violence, Interior Minister Mansour el-Essawy presented a report to the military council proposing a postponement of the parliamentary election planned for November 28, al-Jazeera television said on Thursday, quoting unnamed sources. It was not immediately possible to verify the report.
Slideshow: Violent clashes in Egypt (on this page)
The election, due to begin on Monday, has been billed as Egypt's first free vote in decades.
The army and the Muslim Brotherhood, which expects to do well in the election, says it must go ahead but many protesters are unwilling to trust the army to oversee a clean vote and hand real control of the country to the winner.
The generals' popularity has waned in the nine months since they nudged President Hosni Mubarak from office and swore to steer the country toward civilian democracy, as suspicion grew that they were maneuvering to stay in power beyond elections.
Tantawi has pledged to bring forward a presidential vote and offered a new interim government but the demonstrators are unconvinced.
"The military council must leave and hand power to civilians. They don't want to leave so that their corruption isn't exposed," said 23-year-old student Ahmed Essam.
He said he joined the protests when he saw riot police raining blows on peaceful demonstrators on Saturday. "Everything is like in Mubarak's time," he said.
The Associated Press, Reuters and NBC News contributed to this report.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/45426434/ns/world_news-mideast_n_africa/
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