Special to WorldTribune.com

CAIRO — Egypt has detained American students amid
rising unrest in the Arab state.

Egyptian police arrested three American students from the American
University of Cairo, located at Tahrir Square, the focus of the protest
campaign against the military regime. The three were said to have been on a
study program at the university and standing in the vicinity of the bloody
anti-regime demonstrations.

The students were identified as Luke Gates, Gregory Porter and Derrik Sweeney. The U.S. embassy has monitored the whereabouts of the students, said to have been taken to a police station in Cairo on late Nov. 21.

“We can confirm that there are three U.S. citizens in detention in
connection with the protests,” State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland said on Nov. 22. “We have requested consular access to them. We expect that we will have that access tomorrow.”

This marked the first arrest of an American student since the detention of Ilan Grappel in June. Grappel, an Israeli-U.S. national, was charged with espionage and later released in exchange for 25 Egyptians held in Israel.

A university spokeswoman confirmed the arrest of the three American students, which took place in wake of U.S. State Department criticism of what it termed was excessive force by security forces. The spokeswoman said the students had been off campus when they were taken away by security
forces.

Protesters have set up a makeshift clinic outside the university. On
Nov. 22, the university closed the Tahir campus indefinitely.

“We recognize that these are extraordinary times,” American University
said in a statement.

Later, the Interior Ministry confirmed the arrest of the Americans. A
ministry spokesman said the students were charged with throwing firebombs
from a campus building toward Tahrir Square.

“We were throwing rocks and one guy accidentally threw his phone,” a
Twitter account message under the name Luke Gates said.

The arrests took place as American delegations were arriving in Egypt to
monitor parliamentary elections scheduled for Nov. 28. The Carter Center,
founded by former President Jimmy Carter, has deployed more than 20 election
monitors around Egypt.

“The Carter Center is greatly concerned about the ongoing violence at
Tahrir Square and elsewhere in Egypt that has resulted in more than 30
casualties,” the center said on Nov. 21. “As events continue to unfold, we
urge the authorities to act with restraint and for all involved to continue
to advance a meaningful democratic transition in Egypt through peaceful
political participation and respect for the rule of law.”

  American University of Cairo, Derrik Sweeney, Egypt arrests three U.S. students; ‘We were throwing rocks’, Gregory Porter, Ilan Grappel, Luke Gates, Tahrir Square, The Carter Center, U.S. State Department, Victoria Nuland