Threats and harassment against family members of Mr. Ahmed Saïd

Threats / Harassment

Egypt

November 28, 2019

The Observatory for theProtection of Human Rights Defenders, a partnership of FIDH and the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT), requests your urgent intervention in thefollowing situation in Egypt.

Description of thesituation:

The Observatory hasbeen informed by reliable sources about the threats and harassment againstfamily members of Mr. Ahmed Saïd, Egyptian Commission for Rights andFreedom (ECRF) Coordinator in Germany[1].

According to theinformation received, on November 25, 2019, officers of the National SecurityAgency (NSA) came to the house of Mr. Ahmed Saïd’s aunt in Cairo, asking aboutthe whereabouts of his mother. They phoned his uncle asking the same. Theyfinally reached Mr. Ahmed Saïd’s mother by phone and asked her whether she wasMr. Saïd’s mother and where she lived. As she refused to answer them, theyrequired her to come and visit them at NSA headquarters in Mansoura. During theprevious days, Mr. Ahmed Saïd received different messages, relayed to himthrough former political prisoners, threatening to harm his 13-year-old son, who still lives inEgypt.

The Observatoryrecalls that Mr. Ahmed Saïd was arrested on November 19, 2015 and sentenced totwo years in prison for his participation in a peaceful manifestationcommemorating the fourth anniversary of the Egyptian Revolution and asking foraccountability for the victims of the repression of the protests that occurredat that time. He was released on November 18, 2016, after receivingpresidential pardon and subsequently left to Germany.

This is not the firsttime Mr. Ahmed Saïd’s family is targeted, as his father was arrested for onenight in 2017 during his campaigning against the German-Egyptian security deal.The reason for targeting him at this specific moment is unclear, however itcould be in retaliation from recent activities Mr. Ahmed Saïd conducted a fewdays before the threats against his relatives, such as a panel discussion inAmsterdam and an advocacy meeting at the Foreign Ministry in The Hague heparticipated in.

The Observatory condemns the threats against Mr. AhmedSaïd’s family members, as they seem to be only aimed at punishing him for hislegitimate human rights activities.

The Observatory urges the Egyptian authoritiesto guarantee, in all circumstances, the physical integrity andpsychological well-being of Mr. Ahmed Saïd’s family members and to put an endto any act of harassment against them and all human rights defenders in Egypt.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Egypt asking themto:

i. Guarantee, in all circumstances, thephysical integrity and psychologicalwell-being of Mr. Ahmed Saïd’s family members and allhuman rights defenders in Egypt;

ii. Put an end to all acts of harassment against Mr. AhmedSaïd’s family members, as well as against all human rights defenders in Egypt, and ensure that they are able to carry out theiractivities without hindrance;

iii. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration onHuman Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nationson December 9, 1998, especially its Articles 1 and 12.2; and

iv. More generally, ensure in all circumstances therespect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with theUniversal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional humanrights instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republicof Egypt, 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 HossamAbdel-Rahim, Fax: +202 2795 8103 


· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor Nabeel Sadek, Fax: +2022577 4716

· Head of the Egyptian parliament’s Human RightsCommittee, Mr. Alaa Abed, Email: humanrightscomplaints@parliament.gov.eg

· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of the NationalCouncil for Human Rights, Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E. Mr. Alaa Youssef, Ambassador, PermanentMission of Egypt to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Email: mission.egypt@bluewin.ch

· Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, Belgium, Fax: +32 2675.58.88; Email: embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic missionsor embassies of Egypt in your respective country.

***

Paris-Geneva, November28, 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 byFIDH and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT). 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 UnionHuman Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented by international civil society.

[1] Mr. Ahmed Saïd is also a surgeon who provided medicalassistance to those attacked by the regime security forces during the 2011Egyptian Revolution.