Fourteen students in Alexandria were sent to a disciplinary council on Monday for “filming an offensive movie about the military”.

The movie made by students in the faculty of tourism and hotels also allegedly accused the Minister of Antiquities of theft and called the Egyptian educational system a “failure”.

Lawyer at the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression Hossam Al-Deen Alaa said that the students are also being questioned for allegedly assaulting a supervisor, breaking curfew and being disrespectful on an educational trip to Luxor and Aswan, which took place on 4 March.

Alaa said that the group had been shooting a part of their graduation project near Pharaonic monuments where they staged a protest. “They chanted ‘down with the temple rule’ as a joke,” he said. “The police were around and did not do anything, but [the college] took it to mean mockery [of the regime].”

The lawyer said that if the accusations are proven after listening to the students’ statements, they would be handed a punishment which can be appealed. AFTE lawyers will be defending them.

Eight of the students were interrogated while the rest will be investigated on 19 May, according to Alaa.