OHCHR, Nov. 27, 2020
GENEVA (27 November 2020) – 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.
In full: https://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=26549&LangID=E
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