Egyptian student faces 20 years for denied arson attack

They try to break us." That is how Youssef Moursi describes his situation after six months in pre-trial detention for an arson attack he denies committing. The 25-year-old Egyptian student from Prague faces charges of terrorism linked to a fire at a Czech weapons factory in March. If the court finds him guilty, he could spend up to twenty years behind bars.

Moursi is one of eleven people currently charged with this offense. Legal battles in similar cases have already unfolded in the United Kingdom and Germany, where activists faced harsh sentences or trials targeting sites linked to Israeli defense contractors like Elbit Systems. The parallels between these international crackdowns seem clear to observers following the recent events in Prague.

In a statement shared with Al Jazeera, Moursi recounted that armed police smashed down his front door two days after the alleged incident. He insists he had no role in the fire yet remains locked away. His lawyer, Pavel Cizinsky, notes that the first three months of custody involved solitary confinement. Currently, Moursi gets only one hour of outdoor time and twenty minutes on a phone daily, with family visits occurring merely once every two weeks.

"This psychological front is real," Moursi said regarding the conditions inside his cell. "They deliberately try to break us by putting some of us in solitary confinement for months." He argues that denying visits, blocking letters, or spreading fear are tactics used against pro-Palestine activists. Keeping someone in prison without direct evidence relies on a mix of activism records and what he calls racism rather than facts alone.

Cizinsky believes his client was targeted simply for organizing aid for the community during the conflict. Part of the prosecution's case rests on a social media post Moursi made shortly after the fire, offering advice to other activists about how to handle police interviews. Cizinsky called this evidence ridiculous because waiting for a lawyer is standard legal counsel in any country. Writing such tips online should not be proof of guilt according to his defense team.

At the start of the investigation, authorities reportedly pressured Cizinsky not to take on the case. He was absent during the initial house raid and interrogation sessions while police poured resources into this specific file. Under Czech law, courts must review pre-trial detention every three months for anyone awaiting a verdict. Moursi has seen two such reviews so far yet the judge ordered him to remain in prison both times.

The next review is scheduled for early December with the trial expected within a year. The blaze started at LPP Holding in Pardubice during the early hours of March 20. No one suffered injuries though the facility was destroyed completely. Damage estimates reached hundreds of millions of crowns or about four million euros according to police reports.

A group calling itself The Earthquake Faction claimed responsibility for the attack before posting videos online. They stated that LPP Holding was chosen because it cooperates with Elbit Systems, which builds drones in the country since 2023. This partnership between the Czech factory and the Israeli company formed the basis of the activists' target list despite ongoing global tensions.

The legal system must now decide if these charges hold water or if they stem from a broader attempt to silence solidarity movements. Communities across Europe watch closely as courts weigh evidence in cases that mix political activism with heavy criminal penalties. The outcome could set a precedent for how similar incidents are handled elsewhere in the region.

An LPP Holding spokesperson told Czech media on the day of the fire that no collaboration ever took place. Police started a manhunt in the weeks following the attack and arrested several foreign nationals from Ukraine, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, and the United States. Three of the ten other accused individuals are under house arrest in Poland while seven remain behind bars in the Czech Republic.

Elbit Systems has become a primary target for pro-Palestine activists across Europe over the past two years. A UK court convicted four imprisoned Palestine Action members of criminal damage with a terrorist connection after raiding an Elbit Systems factory in Filton near Bristol back in June. Police in Poland arrested protesters at an arms fair last September for throwing red liquid over an Elbit Systems stand. This week, authorities in Germany arrested an elderly man protesting against the Israeli weapons giant.

The atmosphere for pro-Palestinian activists in Prague has grown increasingly tense recently. A collective named Prague 4 Palestine Youth stopped organizing demonstrations and charity events after police investigated dozens of its members in the months following the arson attack. Rue is a twenty-five-year-old Czech activist who asked to remain anonymous. Rue said friends of those detained in the arson case and fellow activists face interrogations, house raids, and indefinite confiscation of their devices as the investigation continues.

Nine days after the fire, Rue stated that police interrogated them before taking them back to their apartment for a search of the house. Officers kept them awake for more than twenty-four hours straight. Rue suffered panic attacks for a week straight after it happened. After the interrogation and house search, police told Rue they were being treated as a witness to the arson attack. Authorities confiscated Rue's phone and computer which have not been returned since.

Rue believes they were investigated because of their friendship with suspects in the arson case. They have visited two people in prison; one is held in solitary confinement for twenty-three hours a day, Rue said. "When it comes to the end of the visit, the tears come," Rue added. "You're free to go anywhere and do anything, and they go back to being in those four walls." Individuals detained in the Czech Republic could remain in prison for up to four years without being convicted according to their lawyers. Police confirmed they have arrested and charged suspects of several different nationalities and remanded them in custody. "Given the gravity of the case and the ongoing investigation into terrorism-related offences, the supervising public prosecutor's office has assumed exclusive authority to release information," the police said.