The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) shares with you the joint statements it produced over the past month, in addition to the legal updates of lawsuits in which AFTE provides legal support to prisoners of conscience or to academics who were subjected to abuse and security prosecutions for expressing their opinions.
We always welcome any inquiries or clarifications from everyone, through our social media platforms or via the following email: [email protected]
Advocacy
AFTE signed a joint statement with 14 human rights bodies in which it called on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release Badr Mohamed, who was unjustly convicted in January 2023
in connection to protests and sentenced to five years in prison after a grossly unfair trial.
Badr Mohamed was first arrested on 16 August 2013, when he was just 17 years old, during the Ramsis Square protests in Cairo. While he was released on bail after three months, he was later convicted and sentenced to five years’ imprisonment in absentia in August 2017 in connection to the Ramsis Square protests on charges of participation in an illegal gathering and engaging in violence. He was re-arrested in May 2020, and retried on the same charges.
On 12 January 2023, Badr Mohamed was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison following a grossly unfair retrial in front of a terrorism circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court. For more details.
Legal Aid
- The Administrative Judiciary Court scheduled the sentencing hearing in the case of dismissing student Omar Ali, who serve life sentence for the 10th of March
- The Supreme Administrative Court refused the higher education’s appeal against the ruling on Manar Al-Tantawy’s eligibility for a professorship
- The State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of Ahmed Tolba for 15 days in the illegal gathering case in front of the Ministry of Education in the New Administration Capital
- The Criminal Court renewed the detention of activist Marwa Arafa despite exceeding 3 years in pretrial detention in violation of law
- The Criminal Court renewed the detention of two Zamalek football club fans accused of joining Al-Ahly football club ultras for 45 days
- The Criminal Court renewed student Mohamed Saad’s detention for 45 days over Alliance of Hope lawsuit, despite exceeding 4 years in pretrial detention
- The Supreme State Security renews Mahmoud Abo Sree’s detention for 15 days After he was arrested from Borg El Arab Airport while returning to visit his family
- The State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of a student for demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine
- The Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of Hany Soliman for 15 days over chanting and filming during October victory celebrations
- The Cairo Criminal Court reserves the lawsuit of journalist Hassan Al-Qabany, in which he’s accused of similarity of names, on March 27 due to the absence of the prosecution witness
- The Court of Cassation sets April 22 to examine the appeal against Sherry Hanem and Zomoroda’s verdict
- The State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of a student at Al-Azhar University for demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine
- The Supreme State Security decided to renew the detention of Omar ElDahma for 15 days for his participation in demonstrations of solidarity with Palestine
- The State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of Ahmed Abostit for demonstrating in solidarity with Palestine for 15 days
- The Criminal Court renewed Nour Fayez Ebrahim’s detention for 45 days because of discussions about monotheistic religions
- The Criminal court renews Khaled Helmy’s detention for 45 days
- The Administrative Judiciary Court adjourns the examination of AFTE’s appeal against the acting professions syndicate to Apr 14, 2024
- The Administrative Judiciary Court adjourns the examination of three appeals filed by AFTE against the acting professions syndicate to February 25
- The Criminal Court renewed three defendants’ detention for 45 days against Facebook posts
- The Misdemeanor Court decided to postpone the trial of Ahmed El-Tantawy, and 22 members of his presidential campaign to the February 6 session in the “Public Endorsements” case
- The Criminal Court renewed Momtaz Lotfy’s detention for 45 days for posting a video about the Gamasa Prison fire
- The Criminal Court (Second Circuit) renewed the detention of the assistant professor of political science at the Faculty of Economic Studies Ahmed AlTomahy, who exceeded 3 years in pretrial detention for extra 45 days
- The Criminal Court renewed Sherif Elrouby’s detention for 45 days
- The Criminal Court renewed the detention of poet Galal Al-Behairi, and he informs his family that he was subjected to harassment by stripping his cell of books, papers, and personal supplies
- The Criminal Court renews the detention of 61 years old journalist Manal Agrama for 45 days
- The Criminal Court renews Mohamed Abdel Aal Abou El-Dahab’s detention for 45 days
- Detention of Activist and one of the injured in January Revolution, Ahmed Oraby, renewed for 45 days by the Criminal Court
- The Criminal Court renews Mohamed Amer Abdel Aziz’s detention for 45 days
- The Criminal Court renews Mohamed Raafat Nasr’s detention for 45 days
- The Criminal Court renews a contractor’s detention for 45 days
- The Criminal court renews Mohamed Asr’s detention for 45 days for posting on Tiktok about the economic situation and electricity outage
- The detention of employee Mohamed Abou Mandour was renewed for 45 days after a year of pretrial detention
- After more than 4 years in pretrial detention, Criminal Court renewed Hamed Sedeek’s detention
- Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed Sherif Ebrahim’s detention for 15 days over a video insulting the Ministry of Interior
Campaigns
Thirteen years have passed since a moment etched in Egyptian history, one that remains indelible in the collective memory. Yet, the current reality still witnesses arbitrary arrests, casting a shadow on the principles of justice called for in the #January25 Revolution.
On this day, #AFTE calls for an end to the ongoing occurrences of random arrests and pretrial detention of citizens. For more details.
On #DataPrivacyDay, which marks 28 January every year, AFTE highlight the shortcomings of the Egyptian Personal Data Protection Law, which exposes user data to the risk of being #Hacked.
