The hearing session of the two lawsuits demanding broadcasting the sessions of the House of Representatives and the Senate adjourned to 2 January; Trials of Mohamed Oxygen and Haneen Hossam adjourned to 20 December
The Legal Bulletin covers the lawsuits in which AFTE provides the necessary legal aid, in accordance with AFTE’s action framework.
Criminal Courts
The Criminal Court decided on 8 November to renew the detention of Marwa Arafa for 45 days in connection with Case No. 570 of 2020 (Supreme State Security).
A six-men police force arrested Arafa from her home in Nasr City on 20 April 2020. They confiscated her mobile phone and sums of money in her possession at the time. After 14 days of enforced disappearance, Arafa appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in connection with the aforementioned case, where she faced charges of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its purposes and committing a financing crime for a terrorist purpose.
For the third time in two weeks, the Criminal Court decided on 9 November to adjourn the trial of lawyer Mohamed Ramadan to 14 November, as it was not possible to transfer him from his prison cell to the court.
Ramadan is detained in connection with Case No. 910 of 2021 (Supreme State Security), the third for him, on charges of joining a terrorist group.
In Zagzig, the Criminal Court on 10 November rejected the appeal of Quranist blogger Reda Abdel Rahman Ali and upheld a decision to keep him in pretrial detention for 45 days.
Ali is detained in connection with Case No. 3418 of 2020 (Emergency State Security Misdemeanour), in which he faces charges of joining the terrorist group ISIS, adopting Takfiri ideas and spreading them indirectly through the papers found at his house.
The Quranist blogger was subjected to a series of violations over 12 years because of his religious belief. AFTE summarized these violations in a report entitled Forbidden Belief: Report on the Imprisonment of Quranist Blogger Reda Abdel-Rahman.
For the fourth time, the Criminal Court decided on 14 November to adjourn the trial of lawyer Mohamed Ramadan in connection with his third Case No. 910 of 2021 (Supreme State Security) to 22 November, as it was not possible to transfer him from his prison cell to the court.
The Criminal Court also adjourned to 20 December the trial of Haneen Hossam in connection with Case No. 4917 of 2020 (Sahel Felonies), registered under No. 2106 of 2020 (North Cairo), known in local media as the “human trafficking” case.
Hossam’s defense demanded that the case be referred to another court, as the Criminal Court had previously considered the case and issued a verdict on 21 June, sentencing the defendant in absentia to 10 years in prison and ordered her to pay a fine of 200,000 pounds.
Emergency State Security Courts
On 7 November, the Emergency State Security Court in Minya Al-Qamh sentenced Ayman Abdel Aziz Abdel Halim to one year in prison, in connection with Case No. 3169 of 2021, in which he faces charges of possessing publications that promote terrorist ideas.
Abdel Halim was arrested on 17 September 2021. Two days later, he appeared before Minya Al-Qamh Prosecution on charges of joining a terrorist group and possessing publications that promote its ideas. Then, he was referred to the Emergency State Security Court.
On 8 November, the Emergency State Security Court adjourned to 20 December the trial of blogger Mohamed Ebrahim Radwan, aka Oxygen, in connection with Case No. 1228 of 2021, in which he faces charges of spreading false news from inside and outside Egypt.
The court rejected the defense’s request to obtain a copy of the lawsuit papers and to combine the cases in which Oxygen was previously accused. Also, no defense pleadings were presented.
State Council Courts
On 7 November, the State Commissioners Authority (the Second Circuit) adjourned to 2 January 2022 the hearing session of the two lawsuits filed by AFTE’s lawyers last May against the speakers of the House of Representatives (lawsuit No. 46322 of 75) and the Senate (lawsuit No. 46319 of 75). The two lawsuits challenged the negative decision not to broadcast the parliamentary sessions on television and digital platforms or publish them in the Official Gazette. The session was adjourned so the State Commissioners Authority’s lawyers can submit their documents.
AFTE lawyers submitted two memoranda of defense against the pleas of the State Commissioners Authority’s lawyer, so the latter can review the two lawsuits related to the House of Representatives and the Senate.
On 8 November, the State Commissioners Authority (the 17th Circuit) adjourned to 10 January 2022 the examination of appeal No. 61520 of 75 ledged by AFTE and the Arab Network for Human Rights Information on behalf of Dr. Manar Al-Tantawy against both the Minister of Higher Education and the dean of the Higher Institute for Technology in the 10th of Ramadan City. The appeal was lodged against the negative decision not to grant Tantawy a professorship degree, although she has fulfilled all the technical and procedural conditions.
The State Commissioners Authority allowed Tantawy to obtain her file from the Higher Institute for Technology to explain the reason for refusal to grant her the academic degree, after the competent court and Tantawy’s defense found out that the institute did not submit the appellant’s file or provide the reason for depriving her of the degree. Moreover, no representative from the institute’s administration attended the session despite sending them a notification.
Tantawy had requested to get her legal right to chair the Mechanical Engineering Department at the institute, as well as the consequent financial and moral rights for being the most senior assistant professor in the department. She had previously assumed the post in October 2020, but she abdicated it temporarily for health reasons. Nevertheless, her request was rejected by the dean of the institute, on the ground that she is the wife of former prisoner of conscience and journalist Hisham Gaafar.
Supreme State Security Prosecution
On 11 November, AFTE submitted a complaint to the Public Prosecutor on behalf of Omar Mahmoud Al-Hout to release him after serving two months in prison and paying a fine of 500 pounds sentence in connection with Case No. 1873 of 2021 (Emergency State Security Misdemeanor). The complaint carried No. 110295.
Al-Hout’s jail term was scheduled to end on 13 September 2021, as per the verdict issued by the Abu Kabir Emergency State Security Court in the Center. However, he has not been released yet.
