Stop Harassment of Women Human Rights Defenders and Drop Politically-Motivated Case 173

The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition isextremely concerned about the escalation of crackdown on Egyptian Women HumanRights Defenders (WHRDs) and NGOs. The Egyptian government has been using a politicallymotivated case, 173 of the year 2011 known as the NGO Foreign Funding Case, tocarry out systematic crackdowns against NGOs and human rights defenders.

The latest development in this case occurred on December 7, 2016,when Azza Soliman, a prominent women’s rights defender and lawyer was arrestedon the order of an investigative judge in Case 173. Police forces arrived at her house in themorning of December 7, arrested her and took her to a police station and thento the office of the investigative judge, where she was questioned. She was facedwith three preliminary charges, including “receiving foreign funding to harmthe state’s interests.” Under Egypt’s penal code, this could be sentenced withup to life imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 Egyptian pounds. She was releasedon bail after she paid 20,000 Egyptian pounds, pending further courthearings.

On December 14, a court hearing is expected to decide on thefreezing of Azza Soliman’s personal and organizational bank accounts (herprivate law firm). It should be notedthat Soliman has not been officially informed of the pending court hearing, andonly learned about it through the media. Prior to this development, AzzaSoliman was informed by her bank that her accounts had been frozen. Despite herinsistence, no official document has been provided to explain the reason forthe freezing of her assets. The bank hashowever referred to a November 17 verdict by the Cairo Criminal Court to freezeher assets on order of one of the judges in Case 173. The verdict however has not been presented toAzza Soliman or anyone from her law firm. On November 19, while at the airport and attempting to go to Jordan toattend a women’s rights meeting, Azza Soliman was informed that she had beenbanned from travel.

Azza Soliman’s case is only one example of the pressures theEgyptian government has exerted on Egyptian women human rights defenders. Mozn Hassan, a prominent WHRD and ExecutiveDirector of Nazra for Feminist Studies was barred from travel on June 27,2016. Hassan and her organization NazraFeminist Studies are also facing charges in the NGOs Foreign Funding Case, case173 of 2011. The hearing scheduled forDecember 14, will also look into and rule on the freezing of assets of MoznHassan and Nazra for Feminist Studies. As further testament to the targeting of WHRDs by the Egyptian securityapparatus, Aida Seif El Dawla, the co-founder of the El Nadeem Center for theRehabilitation of Victims of Violence and a leading Egyptian WHRD was barredfrom travel on November 23, 2016.

The WHRDIC expresses its deep concern about the Egyptian government’sefforts to harass WHRDs and prevent them from carrying out their legitimate activitieswithin their respective civil society organizations. This concern is especiallyheightened given that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is due to sign a highlyrestrictive and regressive new law on associations, which would give thegovernment and security apparatus extraordinary powers over non-governmentalorganizations.

The WHRDIC calls on the Egyptian authorities to stop its harassmentof Azza Soliman and drop all charges against her and other WHRDs, such as AidaSeif El Dawla and Mozn Hassan.

Further the WHRDIC urges the Egyptian authorities to close thepolitically motivated Case 173 of 2011 and end the harassment and intimidationof women human rights defenders, including through arbitrary arrests,interrogations, travel bans and asset freeze and closure of theirorganizations.

The WHRDIC while expressing genuine concern about the new NGO bill,which contradicts the Egyptian constitution of 2014, calls on President Abdel FattahAl-Sisi to reject the bill and respect the rights of citizens to organize incivil groups in line with their internationally recognized right to freedom ofassociation.