Asset freezes against Mozn Hassan, Nazra for Feminist Studies, Mohamed Zarea, Atef Hafez and the Arab Penal Reform Organization

New information

EGY 004 / 0616 / OBS 049.9

Judicial harassment /

Asset freeze

Egypt
January 11, 2017

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders, a partnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT)and FIDH, received new information and requests your urgent intervention in thefollowing situation in Egypt.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the continuedjudicial harassment and the restrictions to freedom of association faced byseveral Egyptian human rights organisations, as well as their staff andmembers, in the framework of the so-called case No. 173/2011, also know as the“NGO foreign funding case” (see background information).

According to the information received, onDecember 11, 2017, the North Cairo Elementary Court decided tofreeze the assets of Ms. Mozn Hassan,Founder and Executive Director of Nazra for Feminist Studies (Nazra), Mr. MohamedZarea, Director of the Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO), Mr. AtefHafez, legal researcher at APRO, as well as those held by the twoafore-mentioned organisations, within the framework of Criminal case No.173/2011, known as the “NGO Foreign Funding” case.

The Observatory recalls that Nazra has beentargeted under the foreign funding case since March 22, 2016 when three of itsstaff members were summoned to court for interrogation, while Ms. Hassan wassummoned to appear on March 29, 2016. On that day, the investigative judgedecided to reschedule her interrogation at a later unspecified date. On June27, 2016, Ms. Hassan was banned from travelling without receiving any furtherinformation[1].It has to be recalled that in September, Ms. Mozn Hassan and Nazra received the“Right Livelihood” Award 2016, a prize known as the Alternative Nobel Prize,for their activities in defence of women’s human rights.

The Observatory strongly condemns this newact of harassment against the above-mentioned defenders, which only aims atsanctioning their legitimate human rights activities, and urges the Egyptianauthorities to immediately and unconditionally put an end to all forms ofharassment against them and more in general against all human rights defendersin Egypt.

Background Information:

Since 2011, the Egyptian Government haslaunched a judicial harassment campaign against civil society organisations onthe pretext that they received unauthorised foreign funding under criminal caseNo. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case against NGOs”.

The 2011 Government Fact-Finding Committeereport, which formed the basis of the first trial in 2012, listed 37 NGOs whocould be targeted under this “foreign funding case against NGOs”. That listincluded ACIJLP, CIHRS, LCHR, the Egyptian Democratic Academy (EDA), HMLC,ANHRI, EIPR, El Nadim Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of Victimsof Violence and Torture, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights(ECESR), the Arab Penal Reform Organization, the Egyptian Center for the Rightto Education, El-Haq, the Egyptian Association for Community ParticipationEnhancement (ACPE), Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Appropriate CommunicationsTechnologies (ACT), among others.

The first set of investigations targetedinternational and foreign NGOs. On June 4, 2013, the North Cairo Criminal Courtsentenced 43 Egyptian and foreign staff members of five foreign civil societyorganisations to imprisonment ranging from one (suspended) to five years ofprison for “managing unlicensed branches” of their organisations, “conductingresearch, political training, surveys, and workshops without licenses”,“training political parties and groups” and “illegally receiving foreignfunding”. Though none of the defendants were forced to serve their sentenceseither because they were abroad or in the case of the junior staff had theirsentences suspended, the court ordered the confiscation of their funds and theclosure of Egypt-based branches of Freedom House, the International RepublicanInstitute, the National Democratic Institute, the International Centre forJournalists (ICFJ), and Konrad Adenauer Foundation.

The second case targets Egyptian civilsociety organisations that have received foreign or international funding. Itstarted with the ultimatum made by the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS)[2] for Egyptian human rightsorganisations to register by late 2014 under Law 84/2002 or face closure. Onemonth later, a new wave of harassment targeting human rights NGOs began.

In September 2014, President Al-Sisisigned into law amendments to Article 78 of the Penal Code. These amendmentsinclude the provision that receiving foreign funding for the purpose of“harming national security” is punishable by life imprisonment.

In late 2014, the Investigating Judge incharge of the case appointed a technical committee from the MoSS[3] to determine whetherEgyptian organisations under review operate as civic associations without beingregistered as such under Law 84/2002, and to examine documents related to theirsources of funding. The committee first examined the EDA. It is noteworthy tonote that despite the EDA's registration in compliance with the ultimatum[4], they are still beinginvestigated. In January 2015, the judge issued travel bans against Messrs. Hossamal-Din Ali, Chairman of the EDA, Ahmed Ghoneim, Deputy, as well asMs. Israa Abdel Fattah and Bassem Samir, who previously worked inthe same organisation.

In June 2015, Mr. Negad El Borai, the Director of United Group, was interrogated bythe Investigating Judge about its sources of funding and legal status[5]. In March 2016, the UnitedGroup was summonsed for the fourth time. On May 17, 2016, he was summonsed forthe fifth hearing session[6], but at the very lastminute it was postponed to an undetermined date.

On June 9, 2015, the Investigating Judgemandated the technical committee to visit the Cairo office of the CIHRS inorder to examine whether the CIHRS engages in activities of civic associationsunder the provisions of Law 84/2002. The committee requested the staff presentin the office to provide documentation relating to the administration of theNGO, such as its registration, founding contract and statute, as well as thebudgets, financial accounts, and funding contracts for the past four years. Oneadditional demand the staff were instructed to comply with was to providedocumentation that proved that the CIHRS was not conducting NGO work.

On June 16, 2015, the CIHRS was presentedwith a summons letter to appear on June 17, before the Investigating Judgewithin the framework of the case No. 173/2011. However, the CIHRS refused toaccept the summons letter as it failed to comply with the legal requirements inforce and subsequently submitted its arguments in writing to the representativeof the Investigating Judge. Since then, CIHRS and its members had not receivedany further summons, until those of March 13 and 14, 2016 (see below).

In July 2015, the HMLC was also subjectedto the same review.

In December 2015, the ANHRI received aphone call from the technical committee, which asked to conduct an inspection,but due to the absence of ANHRI’s Director, Mr. Gamal Eid, the visit waspostponed and eventually did not take place.

In December 2015, the Egyptian Center forthe Right to Education was summoned by the Investigating Judge for questioning.

On February 4, 2016, Mr. Gamal Eid was informed of a travel banas he was attempting to travel outside Egypt. Mr. Hossam Bahgat, founderof EIPR, was informed of a similar ban on February 23, 2016.

On March 13 and 14, two staff members ofCIHRS and three staff members of Nazra for Feminist Studies were notified bytelephone of a summons to appear on March 16 before the Investigating Judge inCairo within the framework of criminal case No. 173/2011. However, the twostaff members of CIHRS refused to appear, as they had not been properlynotified in person in accordance with the law in force. Two former staffmembers of the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies andone accountant from the United Group were also summoned within the samecontext.

On March 17, Messrs. Hossam Bahgat andGamal Eid were informed that the Investigative Judge had ordered the freezingof their assets and that their case would be reviewed by the Cairo CriminalCourt in Zeinhom on March 24, 2016. The case was subsequently adjourned toApril 20, 2016, upon request from the Public Prosecutor.

On March 22, 2016, Ms. MoznHassan was formally accused of receiving foreign funds withoutauthorisation, and throughout the month of March 2016, a number of NGO staffmembers were summoned to appear before the Investigating Judge.

On April 19, Mr. Bahey eldin Hassan, CIHRS Director, two staff members of CIHRS, aswell as Mr. Moustafa El Hassan, HMLC Director, were informed at 9pmthrough a phone call from the Egyptian police that they were summoned to appearbefore the Cairo Criminal Court in Zeinhom on April 20, along with Messrs.Bahgat and Eid.

On April 20, the Cairo Criminal Court inZeinhom added seven defendants from three additional NGOs to the “asset freezeorder” initially targeting Messrs. Hossam Bahgat and Gamal Eid.

The additional defendants are Mr. Baheyeldin Hassan, Mr. Moustafa El Hassan, Mr. Abdel Hafiz Tayel, ExecutiveDirector of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Education, two staff membersof CIHRS, as well as of Mr. Bahey eldin Hassan's wife and daughter and Mr.Gamal Eid's wife and daughter[7].

The hearing by the Cairo Criminal Court inZeinhom regarding the asset freeze order was postponed several times by theprosecutors to review the evidence and formally summon the new defendants. Itwas adjourned to May 23, 2016, July 17, 2016, August 15, 2016 and September 17,2016.

On May 27, Mr. Mohamed Zaree, CIHRS EgyptDirector, was informed by the authorities at Cairo International Airport that atravel ban had been imposed on him based on an order by an investigative judge.We believe this travel ban was ordered within the framework of the “foreignfunding case against NGOs.

On June 27, 2016 Ms. Mozn Hassan wasinformed by authorities at the Cairo International Airport that a travel banhad been imposed on her, under the framework of the “NGO Foreign Funding Case”.Ms. Mozn Hassan had attempted to travel to participate in the ExecutiveCommittee meeting of the Women Human Right Defenders (WHRD) Regional Coalitionfor the Middle East and North Africa, taking place during the period of June 27ttoJuly 1, 2016.

On September17, 2016, the Cairo Criminal Court in Zeinhom ordered the freezing of theassets of Messrs. Gamal Eid,Director of ANHRI, Hossam Bahgat,founder of EIPR, Abdel Hafiz Tayel,Executive Director of CRE, Moustafa ElHassan, Director of HMLC, and BaheyEldin Hassan, Director of the CIHRS, as well as those of three human rightsNGOs, the CRE, the CIHRS and the HMLC. The Court however refused to freeze the assets of somerelatives of the accused also targeted by the asset freeze request.

On December 12,2016, during a court hearing regarding the freezing of assets belonging tohuman rights lawyer Ms. Azza Soliman[8], confirmed in an hearingon December 14[9], the investigative judge requested theNorth Cairo Court to freeze the assets of Ms. Mozn Hassan, Founder andExecutive Director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, Mr. Mohamed Zarea, head of Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO), aswell as the assets of the two organisations. The court adjourned the sessionuntil January 11, 2017.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Immediately and unconditionally lift the assets freezes against the defendersand organisations mentioned in this appeal, as well as against all the otherhuman rights defenders and organisations in Egypt, within the case No.173/2011;

ii. Put an end to all forms of harassment – including at the judicial level- against all human rights defenders in Egypt as they only aim to sanctiontheir legitimate human rights activities.

iii. Guarantee in all circumstances the freedom of movement and associationof human rights defenders, by immediately and unconditionally lifting alltravel bans and assets freeze imposed against them, as they aim only atsanctioning their legitimate human rights activities;

iv. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human RightsDefenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9,1998, especially Articles 1 and 12.2; and

v. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rightsand fundamental 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 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. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg
· Minister of the Interior, Mr. MagdiAbdel-Ghaffar, E-mail: HumanRightsSector@moi.gov.eg, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 2794 5529

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

 Minister of Social Solidarity, Ghada Waly, Fax: +202 33375390
· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor NabeelSadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716
· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of theNational Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E.Ms. Wafaa Bassim, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nationsin Geneva, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15

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

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt in yourrespective country.

***

Geneva-Paris, January 11, 2017

Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against humanrights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human RightsDefenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

[1] See Observatory Urgent appeal EGY 004 /0616 / OBS 049.5 issued on June 28, 2016.

[2] Theultimatum was made public in July 2014, and in September 2014, the deadline waspushed back to November 10, 2014.

[3] The committee is composedof Ministry of Social Solidarity officials but they report to the InvestigatingJudge.

[4] The EDA has been registeredunder the Associations Law No. 84/2002 since September 2014.

[5] TheUnited Group is a law firm established 50 years ago, and headed by Mr. Negad ElBorai, one of Egypt’s most influential human rights defenders and lawyers.

[6] SeeObservatory Urgent Appeal EGY 002 /0516 / OBS 042, issued on May 17, 2016.

[7] Mr.Bahgat attended the April-20 hearing, while the other defendants wererepresented by their lawyers. No formal charges were confirmed on thatoccasion.

[8] See Observatory Urgent appeal EGY 004_/1116 / OBS 101.2 issued on December 15, 2016. Ms. Azza Soliman is ahuman rights lawyer and founder of the Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Aid(CEWLA), an NGO that provides free legal, social, and psychological services towomen and marginalized groups, and advocates for improved protections of theirrights, and member of the Executive Committee of the WHRD MENA Coalition.

[9] See the Observatory Urgent Appeal EGY 004 / 1116 / OBS 101.2, issued onDecember 15, 2016.