{"id":38607,"date":"2024-10-01T15:33:02","date_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:33:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=38607"},"modified":"2024-10-01T15:33:02","modified_gmt":"2024-10-01T12:33:02","slug":"aftes-newsletter-september-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/advocacy-en\/monthly-newsletter-en\/2024\/10\/01\/38607-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"AFTE\u2019s Newsletter: September 2024"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) shares with you the reports, statements, and joint statements it issued over the past month and campaign, 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.<\/span><\/p>\n

We always welcome any inquiries or clarifications from everyone through our social media platforms or via the following email: <\/span>info@afteegypt.org<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n

Advocacy\u00a0<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n

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The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression condemned the Egyptian authorities\u2019 refusal to release activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, despite the completion of his five-year sentence, which was set to end today, and calls on the Egyptian authorities to release him immediately and to cease the ongoing persecution due to his critical views.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested on September 28, 2019, and sentenced to five years in prison for allegedly spreading \u201cfalse news\u201d after reposting a Facebook post accusing a police officer of torture. Despite serving his full sentence, the Egyptian authorities continue to detain him, an act that constitutes a blatant violation of the law. According to his lawyer, Khaled Ali, Alaa Abdel Fattah has not been summoned for any investigation session since the 2021 ruling and has not faced any additional charges. <\/span>More<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

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33 organizations, including AFTE, are gravely fearful for the lives of hundreds of prisoners threatened with imminent execution in Saudi Arabia on drugs-related charges, including 33 Egyptians in a single wing of Tabuk Prison. These men are living in a state of terror, since the number of executions for such offenses has spiked in the past two months. Eight men have already been executed for drug-related offenses in Tabuk this year, and 42 in the country as a whole, including three Egyptians.<\/span><\/p>\n

Although there is no transparency in the Saudi authorities\u2019 handling of executions, independent monitoring of some cases has confirmed a pattern of abuses suffered by several of the condemned men in the course of their arrest and trial. These include the lack of any role for the Egyptian consulate or embassy; defendants not being granted their right to defend themselves adequately; failure to appoint a lawyer for them; and failure to address their representations in court seriously, in addition to their being tortured and mistreated while in detention. <\/span>More<\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Legal Aid<\/b><\/p>\n