Ongoing harassment and restrictions to freedom of association against several human rights organisations
New information
EGY 003 / 0615 / OBS 049.2
Harassment /
Restrictions to freedom of association
Egypt
March 16, 2016
The Observatory for the Protection ofHuman Rights Defenders, a joint programme of the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT), has received new information and requestsyour urgent intervention in the following situation in Egypt.
New information:
The Observatory has been informed byreliable sources about the ongoing harassment and the restrictions to freedomof association faced by several Egyptian human rights organisations, includingthe Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), a member organisation ofFIDH, the ArabCenter for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP)and the Land Center for Human Rights (LCHR), two member organisations of OMCT,as well as Nazra for Feminist Studies.
According to information received, onMarch 13 and 14, 2016, two staff members of CIHRS and three staff members ofNazra for Feminist Studies were notified by telephone of a summons to appear onMarch 16 before the Investigating Judge in Cairo within the framework ofcriminal case No. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case against NGOs”.However, the two staff members of CIHRS refused to appear, as they had not beenproperly notified in person in accordance with the law in force[1].
These summons are the latest incident of acampaign of judicial harassment launched by the authorities in 2011 targetingcivil society organisations in Egypt. As the investigation has been ongoing fornearly five years[2],the scope of the case remains unknown.
Some sources have alleged that 37 NGOswould be targeted under this “foreign funding case against NGOs”. It would include ACIJLP, CIHRS, LCHR, theEgyptian Democratic Academy (EDA), the Hisham Mubarak Law Center (HMLC), theArabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), the Egyptian Initiativefor Personal Rights (EIPR), El Nadim Center for the Management andRehabilitation of victims of violence, the Egyptian Center for Economic andSocial Rights (ECESR), the Arab Penal Reform Organization, the Egyptian Centerfor the Right to Education, El-Haq, the Egyptian Association for CommunityParticipation Enhancement (ACPE), Nazra for Feminist Studies, the AppropriateCommunications Technologies (ACT), among others.
TheObservatory urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately cease all acts ofharassment against human rights organisations, and to comply with itsConstitution (in particular Article 78 and Article 93 of the 2014 EgyptianConstitution which respectively recognise freedom of association and Egypt's compliance with international human rightsconventions ratified by Egypt) as well as its international legalobligations (in particular Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civiland Political Rights (ICCPR)) and its international commitment to respectfreedom of association in the framework of its Universal Periodic Review (UPR)[3].
TheObservatory reminds in particular the Egyptian authorities of their pledgesmade during the UPR during which they “affirmed that civil society is anessential partner to the government in strengthening human rights”[4].
Background information:
Since 2011, the Egyptian government has launched ajudicial harassment campaign against civil society organisations on the pretextthat they received unauthorised foreign funding under criminal case No. 173/2011.
The first set of investigations targeted internationaland foreign NGOs. On June 4, 2013, the North Cairo Criminal Court sentenced 43Egyptian and foreign staff members of five foreign civil society organisationsto imprisonment ranging from one (suspended) to five years of prison for “managingunlicensed branches” of their organisations, “conducting research, politicaltraining, surveys, and workshops without licenses”, “training political partiesand groups” and “illegally receiving foreign funding”[5].Though none of the defendants were forced to serve their sentences, the courtordered the confiscation of their funds and the closure of Egypt-based branchesof Freedom House, the International Republican Institute, the NationalDemocratic Institute, the International Centre for Journalists (ICFJ), andKonrad Adenauer Foundation.
The second case is believed to target Egyptian civilsociety organisations that have received foreign or international funding. Itstarted with the ultimatum made by the Ministry of Social Solidarity (MoSS)[6]for Egyptian human rights organisations to register by late 2014 under Law84/2002 or face closure. One month later, a new wave of harassment targetinghuman rights NGOs began.
In September 2014, President Al-Sisi signed into lawamendments to Article 78 of the Penal Code. These amendments include theprovision that receiving foreign funding for the purpose of “harming nationalsecurity” is punishable by life imprisonment.
In late 2014, the Investigating Judge in charge of thecase appointed a technical committee from the MoSS[7] to determinewhether Egyptian organisations under review operate as civic associationswithout being registered as such under Law 84/2002, and to examine documentsrelated to their sources of funding. The committee first examined the EgyptianDemocratic Academy (EDA). It is noteworthy to notethat despite the EDA's registration in compliance with the ultimatum[8], they are still beinginvestigated. In January 2015, the judge issued travel bans against fourstaff members and founders of the organisation[9].
In June 2015, the Director of the human rightsorganisation United Group was interrogated by theInvestigating Judge about its sources of funding and legal status[10]. In March 2016, the United Group was summonsed for thefourth time.
On June 9, 2015, the Investigating Judge mandated thetechnical committee to visit the Cairo office of the CIHRS in order to examinewhether the CIHRS engages in activities of civic associations under theprovisions of Law 84/2002. The committee requested the staff present in theoffice to provide documentation relating to the administration of the NGO, suchas its registration, founding contract and statute, as well as the budgets,financial accounts, and funding contracts for the past four years. One additionaldemand the staff were instructed to comply with was to provide documentationthat 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 Judge withinthe framework of the case No. 173/2011. However, the CIHRS refused to acceptthe summons letter as it failed to comply with the legal requirements in forceand subsequently submitted its arguments inwriting to the representative of the Investigating Judge. Since then, CIHRS andits members had not received any further summons, until those of March 13 and14, 2016 (see above).
In July 2015, the HMLC was alsosubjected to 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. On February 4, 2016, Mr. Gamal Eid was informed of a travel banas he was attempting to travel outside Egypt.
In December 2015, the Egyptian Centerfor the Right to Education was summoned by the Investigating Judge forquestioning.
Actions requested:
Please write to the authorities of Egyptasking them to:
- Put an end to all forms of harassment against all human rightsorganisations and defenders in Egypt;
- Revise the law on associations to comply with international humanrights standards, while ensuring that independent civil societyorganisations are meaningfully consulted in the drafting process;
- Withdraw the ultimatum and stop immediately investigations andcriminal cases targeting human rights NGOs;
- Comply with all the provisions of theUnited Nations Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, in particular with:
- its Article 1, which provides that“everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, topromote and to strive for the protection and realization of human rights andfundamental freedoms at the national and international levels”;
- its Article 5(a): “For the purpose ofpromoting and protecting human rights and fundamental freedoms, everyone hasthe right, individually and in association with others, at the national andinternational levels (a) To meet or assemble peacefully”
- its Article 6(a), which foresees that“everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, toparticipate in peaceful activities against violations of human rights andfundamental freedoms”;
- itsArticle 12.2, which provides that “the State shall take all necessary measuresto ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individuallyand in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, defacto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any otherarbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of therights referred to in the present Declaration”;
- Ensure in all circumstances respect for human rights andfundamental freedoms in accordance with international human rightsstandards and international instruments ratified by Egypt.
Addresses:
· President of the Arab Republic of Egypt,H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Abedine Palace, Cairo, Egypt, Fax: +202 23901998
· Prime Minister, Mr. Ibrahim Mehleb, Magles El Shaab Street, Kasr El AiniStreet, Cairo, Egypt. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 / 27958016. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg
· Minister of the Interior, General Mohamed Ibrahim Moustafa, Ministry ofthe Interior, El-Sheikh Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: moi1@idsc.gov.eg, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 27945529
· Minister of Justice, Mr. Ahmed Al-Zanad, Ministry of Justice, Magles ElSaeb Street, Wezaret Al Adl, Cairo, Egypt, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg, Fax: +202 2795 8103
· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor Hisham Barakat Dar al-Qadha al-Ali, RamsesStreet, Cairo, Egypt, 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. Ms. Wafaa Bassim, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the UnitedNations in Geneva, 49 avenue Blanc, 1202 Genève, Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15
· Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, 19 avenue del’Uruguay, 1000 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.
[1] The three staffmembers of Nazra will be represented by a lawyer.
[2] The investigation started in September 2011, and the raid on NGOs took place inDecember 2011. For more information, please see: http://www.cihrs.org/?p=720&lang=en &http://www.cihrs.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/The-Complaint.pdf
[3] At the occasion of the UPR ofEgypt in November 2014, the Egyptian authorities accepted at least fiverecommendations on the protection of human rights defenders, including acommitment to reforming the current NGO law with a wide consultation of NGOs,and a commitment to guarantee the right to freedom of association in accordancewith international standards.
[4] See Oral statement by the EgyptianDelegation, http://www.upr-info.org/sites/default/files/document/egypt/session_20_-_october_2014/egypt_upr_egy_42.pdf.
[5]See https://www.fidh.org/International-Federation-for-Human-Rights/north-africa-middle-east/egypt/urgent-statement-on-the-situation-in-egypt-13383and http://www.omct.org/human-rights-defenders/urgent-interventions/egypt/2013/06/d22265/.
[6] The ultimatum was made public in July2014, and in September 2014, the deadline was pushed back to November 10, 2014.
[7] The committee is composed of Ministry ofSocial Solidarity officials but they report to the Investigating Judge.
[8]The EDA has been registered under the Associations Law No. 84/2002 sinceSeptember 2014.
[9] Theseare Messrs. Hossam al-Din Ali, Chairman of the EDA, Ahmed Ghoneim,Deputy, as well as Ms. Israa Abdel Fattah and Bassem Samir, whopreviously worked in the same organisation. For more information, seehttp://www.cihrs.org/?p=10572&lang=en.
[10] 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.