UN Experts Call For Release Of Egyptian Human Rights Defenders Jailed After Meeting Diplomats

UN human rights experts* today condemned Egypt for the arbitrary arrest and detention of three human rights defenders from the same organisation, apparently in retaliation for discussing human rights issues with foreign ambassadors.

“It is absolutely abhorrent to retaliate against human rights defenders from one of Egypt’s last functioning human rights NGOs, simply for exercising their right to freedom of expression by discussing Egypt’s human rights situation,” the experts said.

“These arrests underline the very grave risks human rights defenders face in Egypt every day while carrying out their legitimate work,” the UN experts said. “They are only the latest steps in an escalating campaign against the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and are part of a broader move to limit civic space and target those who operate within it.”

Within days of a meeting with 13 foreign ambassadors and diplomats on 3 November, three EIPR officials were arrested by security forces: Executive Director Gasser Abdel Razek; Karim Ennarah, director of criminal justice, and Mohammad Basheer, administrative manager. They face terrorism and public security charges.

Authorities have targeted the organisation since 2016, when the bank accounts of former EIPR director and founder Hossam Bahgat were frozen and he was banned from leaving the country. In February 2020, EIPR’s gender rights researcher, Patrick Zaki, was arrested, and remains in pre-trial detention on charges relating to terrorism and incitement.

All four men are being held in the Tora prison complex just south of Cairo, with concerning reports that at least one of them is being held in solitary confinement. The experts called for charges against all four defenders to be dropped, for them to be released immediately and unconditionally, and for authorities to cease targeting Hossam Bahgat and EIPR.

Promotion and defence of human rights should not be regarded as terrorism, the experts said, referring to the charges brought against the three men arrested this month: joining a terrorist organization, committing a crime involving the funding of terrorism, and broadcasting false news and statements on the internet on personal accounts that undermine public security and harm the national interest. “We deeply regret that despite several calls from the United Nations human rights mechanisms and the international community, Egypt continues to use counter-terrorism legislation to target civil society,” they said.

“This vilification of human rights defenders as a threat to society is not only harmful to human rights defenders, but to all members of Egyptian society,” said the experts. “Criminalising those who defend human rights – and those who bring to light violations of human rights – undermines the sanctity of those rights.”

“Human rights defenders and civil society activists must never be penalised for their efforts to ensure the protection of the rights of others,” the experts said. “These efforts must not be regarded as terrorism or a public threat. Quite the opposite: We should protect and value them for their contributions.”

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