{"id":20922,"date":"2021-02-12T15:15:27","date_gmt":"2021-02-12T13:15:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=20922"},"modified":"2021-02-12T15:15:27","modified_gmt":"2021-02-12T13:15:27","slug":"egypt-release-ahmed-samir-santawy-and-end-crackdown-on-researchers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/advocacy-en\/joint-statements-en\/2021\/02\/12\/20922-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"Egypt: Release Ahmed Samir Santawy and end crackdown on researchers"},"content":{"rendered":"
The undersigned Egyptian human rights organizations call on the Public Prosecution to release Ahmed Samir Santawy, a master’s researcher at the Central European University (CEU) in Austria, given that the investigations concerning him are not based on solid evidence. The organizations stress the need for the Public Prosecution to assume its role in investigating Santawi’s disappearance and the fact that he was beaten by National Security Agency officers.<\/p>\n
The Supreme State Security Prosecution remanded Samir in custody for fifteen days pending investigations in Case No. 65 of 2021 on charges of \u201cjoining a terrorist group, spreading false news meant to undermine security and public order, and using a Facebook account for that purpose\u201d.<\/p>\n
The Cairo\u2019s Fifth Settlement Police Station remanded Samir on 1 February after it summoned him. A force from the police station raided Samir\u2019s house on 23 January, searched it, and seized the recordings of the house\u2019s surveillance cameras. Santawy was on a trip to Dahab in South Sinai at the time, so the police force asked his family to tell him to go to the police station upon his return home. Indeed, Samir went to the police station on Saturday 30 January, and he was told to come again on Monday 1 February. He went again at 12 noon on Monday, and then he was forcibly disappeared for five days.<\/p>\n
The crackdown on Egyptian researchers and their families has been on the rise. On 10 February, police raided the house of Germany-based researcher Taqadum al-Khatib, searched it, and seized his father’s phone and papers belonging to Taqadum. This comes as part of broader crackdown on researchers and teaching and scientific research staff; master\u2019s and PhD students have been among those arrested over the past years.<\/p>\n