Student returns following his arrest in Egypt

An IU student arrested in Cairo during mass protests Tuesday was released and returned to Bloomington late Saturday night, IU Director of University Communications Mark Land said Sunday.

Luke Gates, a junior studying political science and Near Eastern languages and cultures, was participating in the semester study abroad program in Cairo, Ryan Piurek, director of University Communications, confirmed last Tuesday.

“We’re very happy that he’s back and relieved that this whole incident ended the way that it did,” Land said about the student’s release.

Gates was ordered to be released Thursday, but he missed his connecting flight in Atlanta on his way home and had to wait for a second flight.

Land said he spoke with Gates’ parents Saturday, and “Obviously, they’re very excited to have him back at home.”

The extra couple days in paperwork for his release and flight delays made the wait for his return that much harder for them, he said.

Gates, with Gregory Porter from Drexel University and Derrik Sweeney from Georgetown University, took part in ongoing anti-government protests in Tahrir Square.

The protesters are demanding an end to Egypt’s interim military rule as the country tries to transition to democracy from the autocratic dictatorship of deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Mubarak was overthrown amid popular protests as part of the Arab Spring.

The three students were accused of setting off Molotov cocktails and clashing with police, according to reports.

The American students were studying at the American University in Cairo.

All three students were ordered to be released last Thursday.

Piurek said the American University in Cairo and the U.S. Embassy were primarily responsible for providing legal assistance to Gates, but the University had been in contact with them throughout the process.

After news of Gates’ arrest surfaced, the University released a statement saying officials expressed their “deep concern for the safety of Luke Gates, as well as for the safety of the other two students who have been detained in Egypt.”

The statement said University officials remained in close contact with Gates’ family and with U.S. Embassy officials in Cairo.

The statement noted that two other IU students were also in Cairo, but they were both safe, and neither has been detained.

On his Twitter account, Gates often wrote about going to Tahrir Square and participating in protests.

On Nov. 13, he tweeted that he had a job in Cairo after graduation, and on Nov. 19, he tweeted about throwing rocks, his eyes burning and seeing police fire live ammunition and rubber bullets.

On the same day, he also tweeted, “Honestly, hopefully I die here.”

A video was posted on YouTube showing all three students on Egyptian state-run television.

The video is in Arabic, but it shows the drivers' licenses and student IDs of each of the American students.  

The video also includes a  brief clip of the three students standing behind plastic bottles with green fluid in them, as well as a blurry clip that is suggested to be the  students protesting.

All three students have now been released.