Amnesty International has accused the Egyptian authorities of jailing young activists to quell unrest under one of the toughest crackdowns in the country's history, Reuters reports.

In a report released Tuesday, June 30 called "Generation Jail: Egypt's youth go from protest to prison," Amnesty looked at the cases of 14 young people among thousands it said were arbitrarily imprisoned in Egypt in the past two years in connection with protests.

Amnesty and other human rights groups have criticized what they call repressive policies under Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who as army chief toppled Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in 2013 after mass protests against his rule.

“By relentlessly targeting Egypt’s youth activists, the authorities are crushing an entire generation’s hopes for a brighter future,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa program at Amnesty International.