Association
On 20th March 2024, the UN Special Rapporteurs - including the Special Rapporteurs on the situation of human rights defenders, on the independence of lawyers and judges, on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism - sent a communication to the Egyptian government regarding the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism and in reference to the cases of human rights lawyers.
The letter refers to the cases of Mr. Mahmoud Mohamed Abdelmajeed and Mr. Mohamed Issa Rajeh who work with the Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR), a human rights organisation documenting human rights violations and carrying out international human rights advocacy activities relating to Egypt. In June 2023, both lawyers were informed that they had been charged with joining and funding a terrorist group in what is believed to be in relation to their cooperation with the United Nations in the field of human rights. Authorities issued arrest warrants against them, yet neither individual was officially informed about their arrest warrants nor the charges against them.
Several human rights organisations issued a statement reaffirming that the government’s targeting of the two lawyers is indicative of a well-documented practice of the Egyptian authorities and that ongoing use of politically-motivated prosecution and imprisonment is part of an ongoing campaign to suppress civil society and civic space.
Peaceful Assembly
On 23rd April 2024, the director of EIPR's (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights) women's rights and gender programme, Lobna Darwish; lawyer and activist Mahienour al-Massry; journalists Rasha Azab, Iman Ouf and Hadeer al-Mahdawy; and lawyer Ragia Omran were detained for their participation in a peaceful women’s protest that took place outside the regional headquarters of UN Women in Cairo’s Maadi in solidarity with women in Gaza and Sudan. The detentions were condemned by human rights organisations in solidarity.
Mada Masr noted that Journalists Youssef Shaaban and Mohamed Farag were also detained despite not having participated in the protest. Shaaban was reportedly passing by the area, while Farag was on his way to pick up his child from a nursery. Accordingly, Shabaan and Farag were released without bail. The other detainees were released after posting bail ranging from LE5,000 to LE10,000. Omran, Massry, Azab and Ouf had their bails set at the higher end of said range.
Days after journalist Khaled Mamdouh was kidnapped and forcibly disappeared, Egyptian authorities arrested Ashraf Omar, a journalist, translator, and cartoonist for Al-Manassa.
— Mostafa Al-A’sar | مصطفى الأعصر (@MostafaAlasar) July 22, 2024
(Al-Manassa is an independent journalistic institution operating within Egypt, though its website has… pic.twitter.com/Ur7n4beR2P
Expression
Cartoonist for the independent news outlet Al-Manassa Ashraf Omar was seized from his home by Egyptian police early on 22nd July 2024. Nora Younis of al-Manassa stated “the cartoons of our colleague Ashraf Omar did not violate any law nor attack anyone, and therefore Al-Manassa considers it unacceptable that he was taken away blindfolded at dawn. Following his arrest the Egyptian Journalists’ Union Freedoms Committee condemned the arrest of the cartoonist mand demanded his release.
Omar had just begun his collaboration with The Platform, where they had published some of his drawings, some of which joked about the power outage crisis.
The Freedoms Committee confirms that the arrest of Ashraf Omar is the second case of targeting and pursuing journalists within a week. Khalid Mamdouh had also disappeared for several days and was unjustly detained before appearing before the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
The Committee to Protect Journalists issued a solidarity statement calling on Egyptian authorities to immediately release Ashraf Omar and Khaled Mamdouh.
Yeganeh Rezaian, CPJ’s interim Middle East and North Africa program coordinator, in Washington, D.C. said:
“By arresting journalists Khaled Mamdouh and Ashraf Omar and subjecting them to enforced disappearance, the Egyptian regime has once again demonstrated its shameful commitment to targeting journalists and violating their basic human rights...It is time to break Egypt’s longstanding pattern and release Mamdouh and Omar, dropping all charges against them.”