Articles for Egypt

13 March 2017, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) concerning Dr Ahmed Shawky Abdelsatar Amasha, a 56-year-old Egyptian human rights activist who was arrested on 10 March 2017 at a police checkpoint in Nasr City, in Cairo.

On 8 February 2017, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) concerning the case of Yousri Kamal Mohamed Abdallah, a 30-year-old Egyptian activist who was arrested on 22 December 2016 by members of the National Security Forces. To date, and despite the numerous letters and requests introduced by his father to the authorities, the latter still refuse to disclose his fate and whereabouts.

On 25 January 2017, Alkarama alerted the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) of the abduction of seven students – ranging from 16 to 22 years old – by the State Security between October 2016 and January 2017. Despite their families’ numerous attempts to clarify their fate and whereabouts, the authorities continue to deny their detention.

On 5 January 2017, Ahmed Maher Ibrahim Tantawy, founder of the 6 April Youth Movement, was released after having served a three-year sentence. However, he remains under judicial supervision for three more years, a measure which entails that the activist must spend every night in police custody at his district police station from 6 pm to 6 am.

On 14 December 2016, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) published Opinion 60/2016 on the case of Egyptian citizen Omar Mabrouk first arrested by the Kuwaiti authorities in October 2015 and held in incommunicado detention before being

On 21 December 2016, Alkarama alerted the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) of the case of Mohamed Saber Mohamed Saber, an Egyptian man who disappeared on 12 September 2016. That day, Saber was abducted by members of the Police Forces at home in Alexandria, and has since gone missing, with the authorities denying any implication in his abduction and refusing to disclose his whereabouts.

On 20 December 2016, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) concerning the case of Mohamed Saad Zekillah, a young student who was arrested on 9 November 2016 by the Homeland Security Forces. He was secretly detained for 17 days, during which he was repeatedly tortured. He reappeared on 23 November 2016, when he was brought before the Public Prosecutor of Alexandria and charged with “belonging to a terrorist group”.

On 15 November 2016, the Egyptian Parliament proposed a flawed new draft NGO Law that replaces both the previous 2002 Law on Associations and the draft NGO Law that was presented by the government earlier this year.

On 3 November 2016, Alkarama alerted the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) of the case of Qadry Samy Zaky Abd Elrahman Muafy, a 49-year-old Egyptian citizen from Kafr Saad, Damietta Governorate who was abducted by members of the Police in Mit Ghamr, Dakahlia Governorate on 29 October 2016.

In late August 2016, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), a group of independent experts, adopted Opinion n°42/2016; in which they qualify the detention of Ahmed Yousry Zaky, an Egyptian student who was arrested on 5 May 2015, as "arbitrary".