The arrest of several activists and journalists raised fears of a return to a police state in Egypt. Mohammed Abu Daraa, the Sinai correspondent of the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm, was arrested and to be referred to military court on charges of reporting false news about operations of the armed forces.
Activist Haitham Mohammadayn, a leader in the Revolutionary Socialists movement, was also arrested and interrogated on charges that became the subject of ridicule among activists, such as "enabling a certain social class to control the entire society." He was later released.