EGYPT

Our Concerns

• Crackdown on peaceful dissent and political opposition through the use of repressive laws including counter-terrorism legislation;
• Systematic practice of torture as well as inhuman conditions of detention and denial of medical care in prisons;
• Arbitrary detention following mass and military trials of individuals including political opponents and peaceful protesters, journalists, human rights defenders.

Upcoming

• March/April 2018: Review of the National Council for Human Rights before the Sub-Committee on Accreditation of the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions.

Persistent practices of enforced disappearance and extrajudicial execution

In 2017, Alkarama brought numerous cases of disappearances by state actors to the attention of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID). Such cases concern both men and women and include a wide range of individuals, including young students and human rights defenders abducted under the pretext of the fight against terrorism or other matters of state security. After transmitting more than a hundred new cases of disappearances to the government in 2017, the WGEID expressed concern over the alarming reoccurrence of this practice, yet the authorities have failed to address the issue.

The practice of enforced disappearance has taken a particularly alarming turn with several individuals being summarily executed after having been abducted by state agents. The cases followed a similar pattern: victims – mostly young students – were abducted from campuses and dorms by members of the State Security Forces (Amn Al Dawla or Amn Al Watany) before disappearing. Families filed complaints with the authorities but were denied any information on their fates and whereabouts, only to discover several months later, through a statement published on the website of the Ministry of Interior, that they had been killed during an alleged “counter-terrorist operation” in an “exchange of fire” between “terrorists” and security forces in another part of the country. In most cases, the victims’ relatives reported that when they were allowed to see and identify their bodies a few days after the incident, they were still bearing marks of torture: bruises, cigarette burns and other mutilations, as well as bullets wounds in some cases. Alkarama brought several of such cases to the attention of the Special Procedures, however the families requested that the names of the victims remain confidential due to a fear of reprisals.

In addition to executions following enforced disappearances, the Egyptian security forces have carried out several extrajudicial executions of peaceful protesters across the country. In 2017, Alkarama documented the cases of 14-year-old Yousuf Abdelkader Mohamed Abdelkader Khafagi, and Heba Gamal Abdelalem Mohamed Soliman, a 19-year-old student, who were summarily executed by security forces and the army for taking part in peaceful protests in 2013 and 2014, respectively. Several years after their executions, and in spite of several complaints filed by their families, no investigations were conducted to bring the perpetrators to justice. Similarly, on April 7, 2017, Mohamed Adel Belboula, a young student from the Al Azhar University of Cairo, was arrested and shot dead shortly after by members of the security forces after publishing a post on his Facebook page in which he criticised the current regime and called for the respect of civil and political rights.

“The practice of enforced disappearance has taken a particularly alarming turn with several individuals being summarily executed after having been abducted by state agents.”

Severe crackdown on the rights to freedom of opinion, expression, association and peaceful assembly

A gain this year, the Egyptian authorities have relentlessly increased their crackdown on all forms of peaceful criticism and dissent through the use of extensive media and online censorship. Since May 2017, more than 400 websites of both independent human rights organisations – including Alkarama, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and Human Rights Watch – and media outlets have been blocked in the country under the pretext that they were “spreading lies” or “supporting terrorism”. Subsequently, on August 30, the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression and the Special Rapporteur on human rights and counter-terrorism raised grave concerns with the Egyptian government over this ongoing assault on freedom of expression. The two UN experts stated that “[l]imiting information as the Egyptian Government has done, without any transparency or identification of the asserted ‘lies’ or ‘terrorism’, looks more like repression than counter-terrorism”.

Furthermore, Alkarama brought several cases of reprisals against journalists, human rights defenders, and other peaceful activists to the attention of UN experts. On May 28, 2017, nine journalists prosecuted in the “Raba’a Operations Room” mass trial for having covered the mass execution of protesters in Rabaa Al-Adawiya Square in July 2013 were included on a “terrorist list” issued by the Egyptian authorities. The effects of this listing include asset freezing, travel bans, as well as a prohibition from engaging in any journalistic work or other publication.

Civil society space has also been drastically restricted after the adoption of Law No. 70/2017 regulating the activities of Associations, Foundations and Other Entities Working in the Civil Sphere on May 24, 2017. Ever since its draft approval in 2016, the NGO Law has received strong criticism, including from the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, who, on June 1, 2017 stated that the legislation was “deeply damaging for human rights in Egypt”. In fact, the law forbids associations from undertaking any work of “political nature” and puts their work and funding activities under the strict and direct control of the executive. Foreign NGOs are also subjected to increased scrutiny with the creation of an administrative body in charge of monitoring their activities, including field surveys and studies, for which NGOs must obtain prior authorisation. They must also obtain prior validation of their findings before publication. Violations of the law entail penalties of up to five years imprisonment, as well as heavy fines, allowing for an increase in the judicial harassment and prosecution of NGO members and founders arbitrarily accused of “receiving illicit funds” and “carrying out unlawful activities”.

“Again this year, the Egyptian authorities have relentlessly increased their crackdown on all forms of peaceful criticism and dissent through the use of extensive media and online censorship.”

Systematic reprisals against human rights defenders

In the context of an increasing crackdown on civil society, in 2017, Alkarama documented several cases of reprisals against human rights defenders in the form of abduction, torture and arbitrary detention. Among them is Dr Ahmed Shawky Abdelsattar Mohamed Amasha, an activist advocating for the rights of families of victims of enforced disappearance, a member of the Kefaya opposition movement and a trade unionist. Dr Amasha was abducted on March 10, 2017 at a police checkpoint in Cairo and remained disappeared for 21 days, during which time he was severely tortured and raped. He reappeared on April 1 and was charged with “belonging to a banned group” under the Anti-Terrorism Law. To date, Dr Amasha remains detained at the Tora Prison of Cairo, infamous for being a place where human rights defenders and political opponents are detained in inhumane conditions and subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

Similarly, Dr Hanane Baderraddine Abdalhafez Othman was arrested on May 6, 2017 by members of the National Security Services while she was enquiring about the fate and whereabouts of her husband. Dr Othman, who, prior to her arrest, had been providing support and assistance to other mothers and wives of the disappeared, was charged with “belonging to a banned group” and “forming a women’s organisation”. She is currently detained in inhumane conditions at the Al Qanater Al Khayriyah Prison for women, where she is denied the right to receive family visits and remains subjected to constant and severe psychological torture.

“In the context of an increasing crackdown on civil society, in 2017, Alkarama has documented several cases of reprisals against human rights defenders in the form of abduction, torture and arbitrary detention.”

Similarly, Alkarama documented the case of Ebrahim Metwally a 54-year-old lawyer and coordinator of the Association of the Families of the Disappeared, an NGO he founded after his son, Amr Ebrahim Abdelmonem, disappeared in July 2013. Metwally was abducted at Cairo International Airport on September 10, 2017 as he was about to board a flight to Geneva to attend a meeting with the WGEID. He reappeared before the State Security Court on September 12, 2017, where he was charged with “founding and leading an illegal organisation named Association of the Families of the Disappeared”, “spreading lies” and “conspiracy with foreign entities”, referring to his cooperation with the WGEID. Subsequently, Andrew Gilmour, Assistant Secretary-General for Human Rights, publicly denounced Metwally’s arrest before the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Metwally is currently detained at the Tora Liman maximum security prison in appalling conditions.