Articles for Egypt

Alkarama welcomes the release of Peter Greste on 1 February 2015 after 400 days of arbitrary detention. It urges the Egyptian authorities to drop charges against Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, detained with Mr Greste, who have been released on bail today pending retrial on 23 February 2015. Alkarama also invites the Egyptian authorities to open a thorough and impartial investigation into the arbitrary executions by the army of four journalists, Mick Deane, Ahmed Abdel Gawad, Mosab El Shami Rassd and Habiba Ahmed Abd Elaziz during Raba'a and El Nahda Squares' events on 14 August 2013.

On 27 January 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) regarding the case of Abdelrahman Mahmoud Omar Kamal, a 23-year-old civil engineer and charity worker arrested by the Homeland Security on 22 September 2014 and secretly detained and tortured for 119 days. He is still detained and at high risk of ill-treatment, while his family was only allowed to see him once.

Alkarama welcomes the release of Abdullah Abdulhallem Abdulhallem Zalat on 26 January 2015, for whom it had sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) asking for his release.

On 22 January 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) regarding the case of Abdullah Abdulhallem Abdulhallem Zalat, a 31-year-old civil engineer abducted by the Egyptian Homeland Security forces on 16 January 2015 and has been missing since. Alkarama believes that he is at high risk of being subjected to ill-treatment whilst being secretly detained by the intelligence services.

On 15 January 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture (SRT) regarding the case of Anas Mohamed Mohamed Khamis, a 17-year-old Egyptian student arrested by the police of Alexandria on 26 November 2014. He has since been detained in the police station of Sidi Gaber, where he was subjected to various acts of torture and ill-treatment, including sexual abuse.

On 8 January 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) and to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (

On 6 January 2015, Alkarama sent an urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to demand the immediate release of an Egyptian minor, Seif Al Islam Osama Shousha, arbitrarily arrested and detained since 8 March 2014, on the basis of fabricated charges. Having never been brought to appear before a civil court, Shousha now faces a trial before a military court, in violation of international human rights law.

Arbitrary arrest

On 11 December 2014, Alkarama sent a communication to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) regarding the cases of five Egyptian citizens currently detained for their political views, Hudhayfah Magdy Abdel Moneim Abdel Fattah; Hossam Zaki Mohammed Mohammed; Ahmed Mahmoud Ahmed Hassan; Mahmoud Mohamed Mohamed Al Saghir; Mohamed Ahmed; and Mohamed Ibrahim.

During its last session in Geneva, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) released its opinion (35/2014) regarding Alkarama's communication sent on 8 May 2014 regarding the detention of Khaled Mohamed Hamza Abbas and four other individuals arreste

Alkarama denounces the recent mass death sentences of 188 Egyptian citizens, including 53 in absentia, by the Gizeh criminal court in the trial regarding the 14 August 2013 attack on Kerdasa police station, a few hours after the massacres of Raba'a Al Adawiya and Al Nahda.