EGY 001 / 0319 / OBS 025

Arbitrary detention /

Ill-treatment

Egypt

March 18, 2019

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture(OMCT) and FIDH, requests your urgent intervention in the following situationin Egypt.
Update:

On April 16, 2019, the State Security Prosecution decided to renew Ms. Malak Al-Kashif’s pre-trial detention for 15 more days for the third time. Her next session for renewal of detention will be on 4 May 2019. Ms. Malak Al-Kashif was denied the right to family and lawyers visit.

Description of the situation:

The Observatory hasbeen informed by reliable sources about the arbitrary detention and judicialharassment of Ms. Malak Al-Kashif, a LGBT+ human rights defender, after calling for peaceful protests todenounce how the Ramses Station Accident[1]was handled by the authorities.

Accordingto the information received, on March 6, 2019, at dawn, members of the NationalSecurity forces arrested Ms. Malak Al-Kashif from her home in Giza. She washeld for three days in incommunicado detention, until her whereabouts werefinally revealed on March 10, 2019. It was then revealed that following morethan 24 hours of detention in an unknown location, on March 7, 2019, Ms. MalakAl-Kashif appeared before the National Security Prosecution, where she wascharged with “aiding a terrorist organisation” and “misusing social media tocommit a crime punishable by law”. The Prosecution then ordered that she beremanded in pre-trial. The renewal ofher pre-trial detention is expected to be announced on March 19, 2019. At the moment of publication of this appeal, she was kept in solitaryconfinement in Al-Haram Police Station and has now access to her lawyer andfamily. In order to arrest her, it appears that the national security forcesforced Ms. Malak Al-Kashif’s mother to call her pretending to be very ill, inorder to lure her into going to her apartment.

TheObservatory is particularly concerned by the fact that on March 10, 2019, Ms.Malak Al-Kashif was subjected to forced anal examination, which amounts to aform of torture or cruel, inhuman, and degrading treatment[2].Moreover, according to the same information a police officer sexually harassedher on that same day.

Ms.Malak Al-Kashif’s arrest is reportedly related to her calls for peacefulprotests in solidarity with the victims of the Ramses Station Accident andtheir families. In particular, she has been asking for those responsible of theaccident to be held accountable.

The Observatory considers that Ms. Malak Al-Kashif’s arbitrary detentionand ill-treatment is particularly concerning in light of the general climate ofdiscrimination and human rights violations against LGBT+ individuals anddefenders of their rights in Egypt and fears that she may be subjected tosexual harassment during her detention because of her genderidentity.

TheObservatory urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionallyrelease Ms. Malak Al-Kashif’s, as her detention is arbitrary and only aims atsilencing her human rights work and her freedom of expression. In themeanwhile, the Egyptian authorities should ensure the physicaland psychological integrity of Ms. Malak Al-Kashif and take all necessarymeasures to ensure that, during her detention, she will not be subjected to anyform of sexual abuse, ill-treatment or discrimination because of her genderidentity or to any other form of ill-treatment. As her official documents arestill stating her gender as male, it is feared that the authorities will placeher in male’s detention centers.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical andpsychological integrity of Ms. Malak Al-Kashif, and all human rights defenders in Egypt;

ii. Immediatelyand unconditionally release Ms. Malak Al-Kashif as her detention is arbitrary and merelyaimed at punishing her for her human rights activities;

iii. Putan end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Malak Al-Kashif and all humanrights defenders in Egypt, and ensure that they are able to carry outtheir activities without hindrance or fear of reprisals;

iv. Conformwith the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted bythe General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especiallyArticles 1, 6(c) and 12.2; and

v. Moregenerally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of HumanRights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified byEgypt.

Addresses:

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

· Prime Minister, Mr. Mustafa Kemal MadboulyMohamed. Email: pm@cabinet.gov.eg
· Minister of the Interior, Mr. Mahmoud Tawfik, Email: center@iscmi.gov.eg
· Minister of Justice, Mr. Mohamed Hossam Abdel-Rahim, Fax: +202 2795 8103 

· Minister of Social Solidarity, Mrs. Ghada Wali, Tel: +202 333 75420
· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor Nabeel Sadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716Head of theEgyptian parliament’s Human Rights Committee, Mr. Alaa Abed, Email:humanrightscomplaints@parliament.gov.eg
· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of the National Council For Human Rights,Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg
· H.E. Mr. Alaa Youssef, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to theUnited Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@bluewin.ch
· Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2 675.58.88; Email:embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Please also write tothe diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt in your respective country.

***

Geneva-Paris, March 18,2019

Kindly inform us of anyaction undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 bythe World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of thisprogramme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression againsthuman rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu,the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contact theObservatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

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

[1] During this accident, at least 25people were killed and 47 injured in a train crash at Cairo’s main station.

[2] UN Human Rights Council, Report ofthe Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degradingtreatment or punishment, 5 January 2016, A/HRC/31/57. @font-face { font-family: "MS Mincho";}@font-face { font-family: "MS Gothic";}@font-face { font-family: "Cambria Math";}@font-face { font-family: Calibri;}@font-face { font-family: "@MS Gothic";}@font-face { font-family: "@MS Mincho";}p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }h1 { margin: 24pt 0cm 0.0001pt; text-indent: 0cm; break-after: avoid; font-size: 16pt; font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 90, 138); }p.MsoFootnoteText, li.MsoFootnoteText, div.MsoFootnoteText { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }p.MsoHeader, li.MsoHeader, div.MsoHeader { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }p.MsoFooter, li.MsoFooter, div.MsoFooter { margin: 0cm 0cm 0.0001pt; font-size: 12pt; font-family: "Times New Roman", serif; }a:visited, span.MsoHyperlinkFollowed { color: rgb(149, 79, 114); text-decoration: underline; }span.Heading1Char { font-family: "Calibri", sans-serif; color: rgb(52, 90, 138); font-weight: bold; }span.Caractresdenotedebasdepage { vertical-align: super; }span.apple-converted-space { }span.FootnoteCharacters { vertical-align: super; }span.msoins0 { }span.ww-lieninternet { }span.WW-FootnoteReference3 { vertical-align: super; }span.FooterChar { }span.HeaderChar { }span.FootnoteTextChar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }