New information

EGY 003 / 0518 / OBS 071.1

Arbitrary detention /

Judicial harassment

Egypt

May 31, 2018

The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the World OrganisationAgainst Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requests your urgentintervention in the following situation in Egypt.

New information:

The Observatory hasbeen informed by reliable sources about the ongoing arbitrary detention andjudicial harassment of Mr. Wael Abbas, journalist. He is the author of the Misrdigital blog since 2006, in which he documents cases ofcorruption, harassment of women, police brutality and discusses Egyptiansociety.

Accordingto the information received, on May 24, 2018, Mr. Wael Abbas appeared beforethe state security prosecution, after being held incommunicado for 24 hours,and was formally charged with “belonging to a terrorist group”, “publishing andspreading false news” and “using a website to spread the ideologies of thisterrorist group” under case number 441 of 2018 state security. The prosecutorordered the detention of Mr. Wael Abbas for 15 days in pre-trial detentionpending investigation. Only one of his lawyer was allowed during theinvestigation session. Mr. Wael Abbas is detained at Tora prison.

Thisis not the first time that Mr. Wael Abbas is targeted by the authorities forhis human rights activities, as in the past years his Facebook account had been temporarily taken down by Egyptianauthorities, and his Twitter accounthas been suspended since December 2017. In January 2018, Mr.Wael Abbas reported that this suspension was linked to pendingaccusations of being connected to ISIS.

TheObservatory strongly condemns the arbitrary detention and judicial harassmentof Mr. Wael Abbas, and urges the Egyptian authorities to ensure he hasunhindered access to his family and lawyers as well as to ensure hispsychological and physical integrity.

TheObservatory further urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately andunconditionally release Mr. Wael Abbas as his detention is arbitrary andclearly aims at punishing his peaceful and legitimate human rights activities.

TheObservatory is particularly concerned as Mr. Wael Abbas is the third humanrights defenders to be arrested since May 11, 2018, together with Ms. Amal Fathy[1]and Mr. Haytham Mohamadein[2]who both remain arbitrarily detained.

Background information:

OnMay 23, 2018 at 4:30 am, Mr. Wael Abbas’ apartment was raided by heavily armedpolice personnel who did not present any warrant. Mr. Wael Abbas posted amessage on his Facebook accountsaying he was being arrested. He was taken blindfolded to an unknown locationafter they seized computers, telephones, some books and several other itemsthat belong to him.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical andpsychological integrity of Mr. Wael Abbas and all human rights defenders in Egypt;

ii. Immediatelyand unconditionally release Mr. Wael Abbas as his detention is arbitrary and merelyaimed at punishing him for his human rights activities;

iii. Putan end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, Mr. Wael Abbas 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. Sherif Ismail. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 / 27958016.

· Minister of the Interior, Mr. MagdiAbdel-Ghaffar, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 2794 5529

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


· Minister of Social Solidarity, GhadaWaly, Fax: +202 3337 5390

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

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt inyour respective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, May 31, 2018

Kindly inform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of thisappeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (theObservatory) was created in 1997 by FIDH and the World Organisation AgainstTorture (OMCT) The objective of this programme is to intervene to prevent orremedy situations of repression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCTare both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 4355 18 80

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

[1] See the ObservatoryUrgent Appeal EGY 002 / 0518 / OBS 059.2, published on May 24, 2018.

[2] See the ObservatoryUrgent Appeal EGY 003 / 0518 / OBS 069, published on May 23, 2018. @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 Mincho";}@font-face { font-family: "@MS Gothic";}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 21.6pt; text-indent: -21.6pt; page-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; }span.MsoFootnoteReference { vertical-align: super; }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.msoins0 { }span.ww-lieninternet0 { }span.lienhypertexte1 { }span.ww-lieninternet { }span.FooterChar { }span.HeaderChar { }span.FootnoteTextChar { }.MsoChpDefault { font-size: 10pt; }div.WordSection1 { }ol { margin-bottom: 0cm; }ul { margin-bottom: 0cm; }