U.S. student denies wrongdoing in Egypt

An American student arrested with two others during protests in Cairo said they were threatened with guns, hit and forced to lie for hours in a near fetal position in the dark with their hands behind their backs.

"They said if we moved at all, even an inch, they would shoot us. They were behind us with guns," said Derrik Sweeney, 19, a Georgetown University student from Jefferson City, Mo.

Sweeney was arrested along with Luke Gates, 21, an Indiana University student from Bloomington, Ind., and Gregory Porter, 19, a Drexel University student from Glenside, Pa.

Egyptian officials said they arrested the three on the roof of a university building and accused them of throwing firebombs at security forces fighting with protesters.

Sweeney said he and the other Americans "never did anything to hurt anyone," weren't ever on the roof and never handled or threw explosives. Porter and Gates have declined to recount details of their experience after arriving in Philadelphia and Indianapolis, respectively.

The students flew home Saturday after an Egyptian court ordered their release two days earlier. The three had been spending the semester studying abroad at American University in Cairo, which is near Tahrir Square, where a new wave of protests began more than a week ago.

Protesters have been calling for the nation's military leaders to hand power back to a civilian government before the landmark parliamentary elections scheduled to start today. At least 43 protesters have been killed since Nov. 19 and 2,000 wounded, most of them in Cairo.

"I'm not going to take this as a negative experience," Gates said. "It's still a great country."

Porter said only that he was thankful for the help he and the others received from the U.S. Embassy in Cairo, administrators at the university they were attending, and attorneys in both countries.