32 Nubian human rights activists to appear before the Aswan Misdemeanour State Security Emergency Court

New information

EGY 005 / 1117 / OBS 114.1

Judicial harassment /

Restrictions to freedom of assembly

Egypt
January 25, 2018

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDHand the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new informationand requests your urgent intervention in the following situation in Egypt.

New information:

TheObservatory has been informed by reliable sources about the ongoing judicialharassment of 32 Nubian human rights defenders actively involved in the defenceof minority and Nubian rights in the Aswan governorate, including Messrs. Mohamed Azmy, lawyer and President ofthe General Nubian Union[1], Maysara Abdoun, TrainingCoordinator at Border Center for Support & Consulting (BSC)[2], and Ms. Seham Osman[3].

Accordingto the information, on January 30, 2018, Messrs. Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun,Ms. Seham Osman and 29 otherNubian rights activists will appear before the Aswan Misdemeanour State SecurityEmergency Court under charges of “participating in an unauthorised protest”,“inciting protests” and “disrupting public order” on the basis of the 107/2013protest law. If convicted, they could face up to five years in prison and finesof EGP 100,000 (4,734 Euros approx.).

Messrs.Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun, Ms. Seham Osman and the 29 other Nubian rights activists were arrested anddetained throughout September and November 2017, during peaceful demonstrationsdemanding the rights of the Nubian minority in Egypt to be upheld as well assolidarity demonstrations following the death while in custody of Mr. GamalSorour, French-Egyptian resident, prominent Nubian human rights defender (seebackground information).

TheObservatory expresses its concerns over the reprisals against rights activistsdefending the constitutional Nubian right of return[4], as well as that the exercise of their right to peaceful protest isbeing prosecuted by a State Security Emergency Court. Under Egyptian State ofemergency, sentences imposed by these courts cannot be appealed and onlyrequire the President’s approval to be executed.

TheObservatory calls upon the Egyptian authorities to put an end to the judicialharassment of Messrs. Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun, Ms. SehamOsman and the above-mentioned 29 other Nubian rightsactivists.

TheObservatory further urges the Egyptian authorities to ensure that, untilcharges are dropped, all the judicial proceedings are carried out in fullcompliance with their right to a fair trial and due process, as protected underinternational law and to ensure the physical and psychological integrity of all32 Nubian rights activists.

Background information:

Originallyspread over Southern Egypt and Northern Sudan, the Nubian people were subjectedto forced displacement from their ancestral land as a result of variousgovernment-led projects such as the construction of the Aswan High Dam in the1960s.

Article236 of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution provides for the Nubian right of returnby stating that “the State works on developing and implementing projects tobring back the residents of Nubia to their original areas and develop themwithin 10 years in the manner organised by law”. Since then, Nubian people havebeen demanding for their constitutional right of return to be upheld.

However,in October 2015, President el-Sisi announced a massive land reclamationproject, including Nubian ancestral land[5].Later in October 2016, the Egyptian government put plots of Nubian land up forsale to Egyptian and foreign investors, as well as farmers.

Inresponse, Nubian rights activists organized a series of peaceful activities toprotest the move by the Egyptian government and to demand their right of returnto be upheld, including a caravan driving towards their ancestral land inNovember 2016.

Inearly 2017, Egyptian intelligence in Aswan called in members of the GeneralNubian Union threatening them with closure and asset freeze if Mr. Mohamed Azmywas to remain President.

OnSeptember 3, 2017, on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, Nubian rights defenders helda peaceful demonstration, demanding the return of Nubians to their ancestrallands, which they were evicted from in the 1960s, including for theconstruction of the High Dam on the Nile. On that same day, Messrs. GamalSorour, Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun together with 22 Nubian activists wereassaulted by security forces, arrested and taken into custody to ShallalCentral Security forces camp. They were reportedly being held in one cell withseveral sleeping on the floor.

Mr.Gamal Sorour, who suffered from diabetes, was not given proper access tomedical care during his detention. As a result, on November 5, 2017, he enteredin a diabetic coma and died while in custody. Reportedly, the prison authoritiesdid not give him access to his medication for five days prior to his death,allegedly because they could not understand the label on the medication, whichwas written in French. In addition, prison authorities allegedly did notimmediately transfer Mr. Gamal Sorour to the hospital when he fell into a coma.

Subsequently,other Nubian rights activists were arrested during peaceful solidarity protestscarried out in October and November[6],and eight of them were added to the case.

OnNovember 13, 2017, Messrs. Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun Ms. SehamOsman and the other 29 Nubian human rights activistswere referred to a Misdemeanour State Security Emergency Court under charges of“participating in an unauthorised protest” and “repeating chants against thestate for the purpose of harming public interest” [7].

OnNovember 15, 2017, the Aswan Misdemeanour State Security Emergency Courtordered the release of Messrs. Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun, Ms. SehamOsman and 29 other Nubian rights activists, pendingtrial. The Court adjourned the trial to December 12, 2017.

OnDecember 26, 2017, an appeal procedure to have their case tried before aregular procedural Court was rejected.

Actions requested:

Pleasewrite to the authorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Guarantee in allcircumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Messrs. Mohamed Azmy,Maysara Abdoun, Ms. Seham Osman,the above-mentioned 29 other Nubian rights activists and all human rightsdefenders in Egypt;

ii. Order an immediate,thorough, impartial and transparent investigation into Mr. Gamal Sorour’s deathin custody, in order to identify all those responsible,bring them before an independent tribunal, and sanction them as provided by thelaw;

iii. Put an end to all acts ofharassment, including at the judicial level, against Messrs.Mohamed Azmy, Maysara Abdoun, Ms. Seham Osman,the above-mentioned 29 other Nubian rights activists as well as against all human rights defenders in Egypt,and ensure that they are able to carry out their activities withouthindrance;

iv. In the meantime,guarantee the right to a fair trial and due process of all 32 Nubian rightsactivists;

v. Conform with theprovisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially Articles1, 6(c) and 12.2; and

vi. More generally, ensurein all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and withinternational and regional human rights instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fax:+202 2391 1441. Email: p.spokesman@op.gov.eg, Twitter:@AlsisiOfficial

· Prime Minister, Mr. Sherif Ismail. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 /27958016.

· Minister of theInterior, Mr. Magdi Abdel-Ghaffar, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 2794 5529

· Minister of Justice,Mohamed Hossam Abdel-Rahim, Fax: +202 2795 8103 


· Minister of SocialSolidarity, Ghada Waly, Fax: +202 3337 5390

· Public Prosecutor,Counsellor Nabeel Sadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716

· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of the National Council For Human Rights,Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E. Mr. Amr Ramadan,Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations in Geneva,Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15

· Embassy of Egypt inBrussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2 675.58.88; Email: embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Pleasealso write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt in your respectivecountry.

***

Paris-Geneva,January 25, 2017

Kindlyinform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in yourreply.

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) wascreated in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). Theobjective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations ofrepression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both membersof ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contactthe Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

[1] TheGeneral Nubian Union based in Aswan is a recently founded movement thatactively promotes the Nubian community’s right to return to their ancestralland.

[2] BSCis an organisation led by a group of youth with experience in communitydevelopment and human rights.

[3] The29 other Nubian rights defenders being tried are: Mohammad Osman, Wafaa Ali,Hamdy Ali, Moneer Basheer, MohammadFadl, Tamer Taha, Safwat Ahmad, Hamdy Abdelhafez, WaleedNasser, Zakareya Ahmad, Tariq Khaleel, Abdelqader Mohammad, BakryKarar, Yehya Suleiman, Magdy Mohammad, Ahmad Abdelmalik, HamzaHammoud, Hisham Taha, Saleh Ahmad, Mohsin Mohammad, AmmarAbdennaeem, Mohammad Hussein, Mostafa Taha, Fahd Sayyed, KhaleefaKhaleefa, Yasser Mohammad, Magdy Ibrahim, Ezzeddeen Ali, and FawzyGaber.

[4] Article236 of the 2014 Egyptian Constitution.

[5] The desert reclamation aimed atexpanding Egypt’s farmland by 20 percent.

[6] Inparticular, on November 5, 2017, following Mr. Gamal Sorour’s death indetention, solidarity demonstrations were held in Aswan.

[7] See Articles 7, 8, 19, 21 and 22 of the 2013 Protest Law and Article 103of the Penal Code.