Egypt: URGENT APPEAL – Morsi and Al Tahtawi Absent From Their Two Last Hearings

Alkarama sent today an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to follow-up on the situation of Mohamed Morsi, the former Egyptian president ousted by a military coup on 3 July 2013, and that of his Chief of staff, Mohamed Rifaat Al Tahtawi. Despite two hearings on 27 and 29 September, Morsi and Al Tahtawi did not appear in court, for alleged "security reasons".

Following Alkarama's first communication in July 2013, the Working Group had issued an Opinion (A/HRC/WGAD/2013/39) recognising the arbitrary nature of his detention as well as that of five other members of Morsi's staff arrested with him, and consequently asked for their immediate release.
To justify the arbitrary character of Morsi and his staff's detentions, Alkarama had raised the lack of legal basis for their arrest and the fact that they had not, at the time, been charged nor brought before a court of law, in addition to the fact that they were being held incommunicado and at risk of to torture. Despite the Opinion adopted by the WGAD during its 68th session in November 2013, the Egyptian Government has failed to answer the Working Group's inquiries. Since then, Alkarama regularly updated the WGAD on their conditions of detention.

Very recently, although Morsi and Al Tahtawi were expected in Court on 27 September 2014 for hearings in the "spying" trial, the Ministry of Interior told the judge that they would not come for "security reasons" and consequently postponed the hearing to 29 September. Once more, Morsi and Al Tahwati did not appear in court, raising concerns over their fates. Last seen at a hearing on 21 September 2014, Morsi and Al Tahwati are said to be detained in Burj Al-Arab high security prison West of Alexandria, although this information has not been confirmed to date.

Given the Egyptian authorities' widespread crackdown on political opponents since the military takeover, there are high risks that Morsi and Al Thatawi be subjected to inhumane or degrading treatments during their incommunicado detention.

Consequently, on 8 October 2014, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to ask the Egyptian authorities to disclose Al Tahtawi and Morsi's current place of detention immediately and to authorise their relatives and lawyers to visit them. Egypt should implement the WGAD's Opinion of November 2013 and release Morsi and his staff, now arbitrary detained for over a year, without further delay. In the same sense, Egyptian authorities should release all political opponents and journalists who have been arbitrarily jailed in the course of the year.

For more information or an interview, please contact the media team at media@alkarama.org (Dir: +41 22 734 1007 Ext: 810)