Help promote human rights in the Middle East and North Africa

Donate Today
Facebook-f Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube Envelope
Search
Close
  • English
  • العربية
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Menu
  • About
    • Our Mission
    • What We Do
    • Who We Are
    • FAQs
    • Support Dawn
    • Work With Us
    • For the Media
  • Founder Jamal Khashoggi
    • Who Was Jamal Khashoggi?
    • Chronology of a Murder
    • UN Recommendations
    • International Reaction
    • In His Own Words
    • DAWN and Jamal
  • Countries
    • Saudi Arabia
    • Egypt
    • UAE
    • Israel-Palestine
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
  • Democracy In Exile
    • About
    • Submission Guidelines for Democracy in Exile
  • Advocacy
    • DAWN's Advocacy
    • The Lobbyist Hall of Shame
    • DAWN's Culprits Gallery
    • Reforming Foreign Policy
      • Aid Conditionality
      • Human Rights Go to War
    • US Foreign Policy in MENA
    • Joint Advocacy
  • Experts
  • Latest
Donate

Mohamed El-Baqer Must Be Released, 1000 Days of Arbitrary Detention

June 28, 2022
in Advocacy, DAWN, Egypt, Feature
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

Egyptian authorities must release human rights defender arbitrarily detained for over 1,000 days, 20 groups demand

Human rights defender Mohamed El-Baqer must be released immediately and unconditionally, stated 20 human rights organizations. His detention is arbitrary, aimed at punishing him for his human rights work, and puts his life and psychological well-being at serious risk.

In July 2021, DAWN joined a coalition of organizations demanding Egyptian authorities released El-Baqer unconditionally, and remove him from the terrorist list.

The full text of the statement can be read below.

June 25, 2022 will mark 1,000 days of Mohamed El-Baqer's arbitrary detention. El-Baqer, is  a human rights defender and lawyer and Director of Adalah Centre for Rights and Freedoms, is currently detained in Cairo's Tora High Security Prison 2, which is notorious for its cruel and inhuman conditions. He is forbidden to leave his cell to walk or see the sun, and is denied access to adequate healthcare, a bed or mattress, and hot water. His relatives are only allowed to visit him once a month and cannot provide Mohamed with family photos as he is not allowed to keep them.

On September 29, 2019, El-Baqer was performing his duties as a human rights lawyer at the State Security Prosecution premises in Cairo representing blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah—who had been arbitrarily arrested earlier that day—when he was himself arrested.

They were both accused within Criminal Case 1356/2019 of vague and unfounded charges that have been broadly used to criminalise dissenting voices in Egypt such as: "joining a terrorist group," "funding a terrorist group," "disseminating false news undermining national security," and "using social media to commit a publishing offense".

Nearly one year later, on August 30, 2020, El-Baqer was brought in for questioning and added to Case No. 85ك5/2020 on nearly identical charges, a practice by Egyptian authorities commonly known as "rotation." Only three months later, in November 2020, El-Baqer along with 27 other activists, including Alaa Abdel Fattah, was added to Egypt's "terrorist list" for a period of five years in connection with State Security Case 1781/2019. As a result of this designation, El-Baqer is subject to a travel ban, his assets are frozen, and he is prohibited from engaging in political or civic work for five years. On November 18, 2021, the Court of Cassation rejected the appeal presented by his lawyers against the decision to include him in the "terrorist list".

After more than two years in pre-trial detention, the Misdemeanours Emergency State Security Court sentenced El-Baqer to four years in prison, and Alaa Abdel Fattah to five years, on charges of "spreading false news undermining national security" in yet another criminal case: Criminal Case 1228 of 2021. Rights defender and blogger Mohamed Oxygen was also sentenced to four years of imprisonment under the same case. They were all convicted for spreading false news on social media, as the prosecution claims that they posted or shared false news on their social media accounts in 2019. The verdict is not subject to appeal.

Mohamed El-Baqer's right to due process has been continuously violated through countless and unjustified renewals of his pretrial detention by both the Supreme State Security Prosecution and Cairo Criminal Court. His lawyers were not allowed to have a copy of the case files ahead of and during the trial and were hence de facto prevented from presenting their defence. The verdict is not subject to appeal. Moreover, while in detention, he has been subjected to threats and acts of ill-treatment. 

Despite numerous international calls for the release of all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Egypt, including public statements by the UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and two European Parliament resolutions on the situation of human rights defenders in Egypt, the authorities have turned a blind eye to these demands. Additionally, the European Union's failure to set concrete and measurable human rights benchmarks as criteria for progress in the EU-Egypt bilateral relationship has contributed to the impunity for human rights violations in Egypt.

Egyptian authorities routinely employ repressive tactics such as prolonged pre-trial detention, recycling cases against dissidents, enforced disappearance, torture, unjust trials and judicial harassment to silence all critical voices, including through unfounded investigations for national security and counter-terrorism related charges. 

Therefore, the undersigned urge authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Mohamed El-Baqer and all human rights defenders arbitrarily detained in Egypt, including Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Oxygen, and to put an end to all types of harassment against them.  

Finally, we call on the United States and the EU and its member states to strongly condemn the crackdown on rights defenders, journalists and political activists in Egypt and to use all instruments at their disposal to address the human rights crisis in the country, in order to comply with their own human rights commitments.

Signatories:

ACAT-France

Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) 

CIVICUS 

Committee for Justice (CFJ)

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN)

Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)

Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)

Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)

EgyptWide for Human Rights

El Nadeem Centre 

FIDH, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Front Line Defenders

HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement 

International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)

Lawyer for Lawyers

PEN International

Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED)

The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)

World Organisation Against Torture, within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders

Individuals:

Ramy Shaath

Solafa Magdy (Journalist / HRD)

Source: World Organization Against Torture

Tags: arbitrary arrestarbitrary detentionEgypthuman rights defenderMohamed El-Baqer
Previous Post

America's Middle East 'Withdrawal' Breathes Its Last Breath

Next Post

How Israel's Campaign Against the 'Apartheid' Label Threatens Free Speech

Related Posts

Democracy In Exile

Sisi Is Driving Egypt Off a Cliff

Egypt under Sisi's regime is proof that you can't achieve the material benefits of a modern, civic state using...

Mohammad Fadel
January 25, 2023
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 11: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins an event about "the growing Chinese threat in the Arctic region" at the Hudson Institute on October 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. A distinguished fellow at Hudson, Pompeo described China, Russia and Iran's efforts in the Arctic as a "grand conspiracy" and said the United States must stop it as a matter of national security. In 2021, following his time in the administration of former President Donald Trump,  Pompeo was sanctioned by China and is prohibited from traveling to the communist country. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
DAWN

Response to Comments by Mike Pompeo Regarding the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

(January 23, 2023, New York): In response to comments reportedly made by Mike Pompeo in his new memoir, Democracy...

DAWN
January 23, 2023
DAWN

US: Impose Khashoggi Ban Sanctions on Saudi Agent Ibrahim Alhussayen

(Washington, D.C., January 18, 2023) – The State Department should sanction Ibrahim Alhussayen, an agent of the Saudi government,...

DAWN
January 18, 2023
Image courtesy of Bahrain Institute for Rights & Democracy, BIRD.
Advocacy

Bahrain: Free Academic Dr. Abduljalil Al-Singace on 61st Birthday After 12 Years in Detention

Rights Groups Urge Bahrain to Release Dr Abduljalil Al Singace, Jailed Academic on Hunger Strike 15 January 2023 marked...

DAWN
January 17, 2023
Next Post
LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM - 2021/05/22: A protester holds a placard during the demonstration.
Demonstrators came out in support of Palestinians and in opposition to recent Israeli bombardments of Palestinian territories resulting in tragic civilian casualties. The protesters denounced Israeli aggression and its regime of institutionalised  discrimination against the Palestinian people, amounting to apartheid. They called on the UK Government to implement sanctions against Israel, including a military embargo to cut the supply of arms, as well as imposing a ban on the import of goods from Israel’s illegal settlements. (Photo by Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images)

How Israel’s Campaign Against the ‘Apartheid’ Label Threatens Free Speech

The Silent Branch: How Israel's Supreme Court Crushes Palestinian Rights

January 26, 2023

Sisi Is Driving Egypt Off a Cliff

January 25, 2023
WASHINGTON, DC - OCTOBER 11: Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo joins an event about "the growing Chinese threat in the Arctic region" at the Hudson Institute on October 11, 2022 in Washington, DC. A distinguished fellow at Hudson, Pompeo described China, Russia and Iran's efforts in the Arctic as a "grand conspiracy" and said the United States must stop it as a matter of national security. In 2021, following his time in the administration of former President Donald Trump,  Pompeo was sanctioned by China and is prohibited from traveling to the communist country. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

Response to Comments by Mike Pompeo Regarding the Murder of Jamal Khashoggi

January 23, 2023

Categories

  • Advocacy
  • Aid Conditionality
  • Anonymous Interviews
  • Anonymous Interviews Egypt
  • Anonymous Interviews Saudi Arabia
  • Anonymous Interviews UAE
  • Cases
  • Cases Egypt
  • Cases Saudi Arabia
  • Cases UAE
  • Countries
  • Culprits
  • Culprits Egypt
  • Culprits Israel
  • Culprits Saudi Arabia
  • Culprits UAE
  • DAWN
  • Dawn's Advocacy
  • Democracy In Exile
  • Editor's Pick
  • Egypt
  • Feature
  • Fellows
  • Foreign Policy
  • Human Rights
  • Human Rights Go to War
  • International Actors
  • Israel-Palestine
  • Lobbyists
  • Lobbyists Israel Palestine
  • Palestine
  • Political prisoners
  • Press Release Egypt
  • Press Release Israel-Palestine
  • Press Release Saudi Arabia
  • Press Release UAE
  • Press Releases
  • Saudi Arabia
  • UAE
  • Uncategorized
  • United Nations
  • US – Egypt
  • US – Saudi Arabia
  • US – UAE
  • USA

SUPPORT OUR MISSION

Donate Today

About Us

Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) is a nonprofit organization that promotes democracy, the rule of law, and human rights for all of the peoples of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA).

Support Us

Donate Now

Newsletter

Facebook Twitter Instagram Linkedin Youtube

© DAWN All rights reserved. | Website Design by KRS Creative.

DONATE TODAY