Although the Ahrar movement terrorized Egyptian security services until President Mohammed Morsi was toppled, it has been conspicuously absent from the demonstrations that followed Morsi’s ouster. During that period, the movement organized only two demonstrations, which resulted in the killing of six of its members and the arrest of dozens of influential activists. One of these, Ahmed Arafa, was recently sentenced to life in prison.

Six months after Morsi’s deposition, Ahrar members are back on the scene, vowing to overthrow the current regime and demonstrate in Tahrir Square on the upcoming anniversary of the January 25 Revolution whatever the cost, according to a recent statement by the movement.

The statement, addressed to the movement’s youth, said: “We are going down to Tahrir Square no matter what happens. Let each free person carry his soul in the palm of his hand. For any free person, death is better than submission. … We will either go back to the square or go to heaven.”

The Ahrar movement had raised the slogan “No to the military, no to the feloul [remnants of the old regime], No to the Muslim Brotherhood.” Ahrar emerged after Hazem Salah Abu Ismail was barred from running in the presidential election because his mother was a US national, which he denied. He is being tried on charges of falsifying official documents, including his mother’s nationality.