Bloggers Alaa Abdel-Fatah and Maikel Nabil finally released, but freedom of expression of human rights activists still at risk!

THE OBSERVATORY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS - EMHRN

PRESS RELEASE

EGYPT: Bloggers Alaa Abdel-Fatah and Maikel Nabil finally released, but freedom of expression of human rights activists still at risk!

Paris-Geneva-Copenhagen, February 6, 2012. The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), and the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) welcome the release of blogger Maikel Nabil on January 24, 2012, which follows the release of another blogger, Mr. Alaa Abdel-Fatah, on December 25, 2011.

On January 24, 2012, following ten months of arbitrary detention, blogger Maikel Nabil, who had been arrested on March 28, 2011 for allegedly “insulting the army” and “disseminating false information” after he denounced human rights violations during the Egyptian Revolution, was released following an amnesty declared by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces at the occasion of the first anniversary of the Revolution. He had been sentenced on April 10, 2011 to two years' imprisonment by a military court.

Mr. Alaa Abdel-Fatah had been arrested on October 30, 2011 and interrogated on his involvement in the October 9 demonstration of Coptic-Christians held before the Maspero building downtown Cairo, which was severely repressed by the military, resulting in 27 dead. Accused of “unlawful assembly”, “vandalism” and “resisting arrest”, he was released by a decision of the State High Security Court.

Mr. Abdel-Fatah had criticised that the Military Prosecution was responsible for investigating the Maspero clashes, in which the military police would be involved and opposed to the trial of civilians before military courts. On October 20, 2011, Mr. Abdel-Fatah signed an article in the newspaper al-Shourouk in which he described the acts of violence perpetrated by the military and narrated the two days he spent in the Coptic Hospital Mortuary after the repression.

“The release of Alaa Abdel-Fatah and Maikel Nabil are positive steps which should not overshadow the regular acts of harassment, including detention, faced by human rights bloggers and activists in Egypt, as well as the crackdown on civil society organisations in the country, one year after the Revolution”, FIDH President Souhayr Belhassen said.

“The release of Alaa Abdel-Fatah and Maikel Nabil are no doubt to be welcomed. But they need to be followed by a fundamental change by the authorities. Rather than threatening their work with possible prosecutions we finally have to see concrete moves in creating an environment that enables and secures human rights defenders' vital work for society”, added OMCT Secretary General Gerald Staberock.

“Accordingly, we call upon the Egyptian authorities to put an end to any kind of harassment - including at the judicial level - against all human rights defenders and organisations in Egypt, and more generally to conform to the United Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and international human rights instruments ratified by Egypt”, concluded EMHRN President Kamel Jendoubi.

For further information, please contact:

· FIDH: Karine Appy / Arthur Manet, + 33 1 43 55 25 18

· OMCT: Delphine Reculeau, + 41 22 809 49 39

· EMHRN: Shaimaa Abou Elkhir, +20 100 1077 207