Ahmed Maher Ibrahim

The Egyptian authorities have re-arrested Ahmed Maher, according to the Christian Science Monitor, as well as 14 others involved in the “Facebook protest.”

Last week, police arrested more than a dozen “Facebook activists,” including Ahmed Maher, who used the social networking site to help publicize the strike, drawing more than 60,000 people to a Facebook group in support.

Mr. Maher was originally arrested and tortured in May, shortly after a protest fizzled out, but he was released without charges. He has now been drawn again into Egypt’s labyrinthine justice system after speaking out to local and international media about his detention and torture at the hands of state security.

“State security officers call me on the phone and send me threatening messages on Facebook – it is a constant campaign,” Maher said before his arrest. “They say, ‘Last time was easy, next time it will be harder. Last time, we only threatened to rape you, but next time we actually will.”

Ah, Egypt, modern-day inheritors of the glories of the pharaohs.

Maher has been separated from the other Facebook detainees and held in the same prison that holds Kareem, the Burg el Arab.