The undersigned organizations support the letter by five UN Special Rapporteurs, published on
\n19 May 2024, addressing the Egyptian government in regards to the ongoing targeting of human
\nrights lawyers through the use of counter-terrorism legislation, resulting in their imprisonment or
\ncompelling them to stop their human rights activities. The letter addressed the targeting of
\nMohamed Issa Rajeh and Mahmoud Abdelmajeed Adel, two lawyers at the Egyptian Front for
\nHuman Rights (EFHR), an independent NGO, who were criminally investigated by the Supreme
\nSecurity State Prosecution in June 2023. The lawyers are being investigated over bogus charges
\nstemming solely from their legitimate work, including documenting human rights violations,
\nproviding of legal aid, and cooperating with UN mechanisms.
\nThe Special Rapporteurs further called on the Egyptian government to stop prosecuting and
\narbitrarily arresting lawyers, in line with the demands of UN experts and Egyptian rights
\norganizations. The undersigned organizations emphasize that this targeting of the two lawyers
\nrepresents intimidation and reprisal against their work to push back against human rights
\nviolations and cooperation with UN mechanisms.
\nOn 20 March 2024, the UN Special Rapporteurs, including the Special Rapporteurs on the
\nsituation of human rights defenders, on the independence of lawyers and judges, on the
\npromotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, on the rights to
\nfreedom of peaceful assembly and of association, and on the promotion and protection of human
\nrights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism, sent the communication to the
\nEgyptian government. The government has yet to respond.
\nThe undersigned organizations reaffirm that the government\u2019s targeting of the two lawyers is
\nindicative of a well-documented practice of the Egyptian authorities. In 2017, Ibrahim Metwally,
\nlawyer and founder of the League of the Families of the Forcibly Disappeared, was arrested
\nbefore traveling to Geneva to attend a meeting with the UN Working Group on Enforced or
\nInvoluntary Disappearances. Metwally remains in prolonged pretrial detention to date. Lawyer
\nEzzat Ghoneim, founder and director of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, his
\ncolleague and fellow human rights lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim, and others from the same
\norganization, were arrested and prosecuted for their human rights work, and subsequently
\nsentenced to prison by the State Security Emergency Court. In August 2018, the Fifth Terrorism
\nCircuit Court in Cairo sentenced Egyptian human rights defender Bahey el-Din Hassan, director
\nof the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), to 15 years in prison in absentia for
\nstatements made during a UN event.
\nThe organizations further affirm that the Egyptian government\u2019s ongoing use of politically-
\nmotivated prosecution and imprisonment is part of an ongoing campaign to suppress civil society
\nand civic space. It suggests a clear disregard for human rights that contradicts official statements
\nmade in national and international forums. It further indicates the Egyptian government\u2019s
\nrelentless campaign to suppress the public sphere and besiege independent civil society.<\/p>\n
The undersigned human rights organizations call for the immediate release of all lawyers and
\nhuman rights defenders detained for defending human rights, providing legal aid to victims of
\nhuman rights violations, or for cooperating with UN mechanisms. The authorities should also
\ndrop the charges against all those prosecuted, including the two EFHR lawyers, and quash
\nconvictions and sentences of those tried solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.<\/p>\n
Signatories:<\/strong><\/span> The undersigned organizations support the letter by five UN Special Rapporteurs, published on 19 May 2024, addressing the Egyptian government in regards to the ongoing targeting of human rights lawyers through the use of counter-terrorism legislation, resulting in their imprisonment or compelling them to stop their human rights activities. The letter addressed the targeting of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":84,"featured_media":37545,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_lmt_disableupdate":"","_lmt_disable":"","_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[978],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37544","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
\n1. Egyptian Front for Human Rights
\n2. Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
\n3. AfricanDefenders
\n4. Amnesty International
\n5. Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
\n6. Committee for Justice
\n7. DAWN
\n8. Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
\n9. Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
\n10. Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
\n11. EgyptWide for Human Rights
\n12. El Nadeem
\n13. EuroMed Rights
\n14. FairSquare
\n15. FIDH- International Federation for Human Rights
\n16. Freedom House
\n17. HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
\n18. Human Rights Watch
\n19. International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
\n20. Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF)
\n21. Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L)
\n22. MENA Rights Group
\n23. Middle East Democracy Center
\n24. REDRESS
\n25. Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE)
\n26. Sinai Foundation for Human Rights (SFHR)
\n27. The Legal Agenda
\n28. The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"