Court order confirming the freezing of the personal assets of Ms. Azza Soliman and of her law firm

EGY004 / 1116 / OBS 101.2
Arbitrary Arrest / Judicial Harassment

Restrictionto freedom of association /

Restrictionto freedom of movement
Egypt
December 15, 2016

The Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, apartnership of the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH, receivednew information and requests your urgent intervention in the followingsituation in Egypt.

New information:

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about the court orderconfirming the freezing of the personal assets of Ms. Azza Soliman, human rights lawyer at “Lawyers for Justice andPeace” (LJP)and founder of the Centre for Egyptian Women Legal Aid (CEWLA), anNGO that provides free legal, social, and psychological services to women andmarginalized groups, and advocates for improved protections of their rights,and member of the Executive Committee of the WHRD MENA Coalition, as well as the assets of LJP.

Accordingto the information received, on December 14, 2016, the presiding judge of North CairoPrimary Court ordered the freezing of all assetsrelated to Ms. Soliman under Criminal Case No. 173/2001 (commonlyknown as the “NGO foreign funding case) (see background information).

It has to be recalledthat on December 7, 2016 at around 1.30 pm, police officers arrested Ms. AzzaSoliman at her house, based on an arrest warrant for charges of “receivingforeign funding to harm the State’s interest”, “establishment of an entity thatconducts activities similar to that of associations' activities“ and “taxevasion”. She was released on bail the same night at 8.30 pm (see backgroundinformation).

TheObservatory would like to express its deep concern regarding the pattern of imposingasset freezes to repress human rights defenders[1].Several other Egyptian human rights defenders are also being subjected to thecriminal investigation under the “NGO foreign funding case”, and their assetswere frozen on September 17, 2016[2].

The Observatoryis extremely concerned about this new development in the harassment targetingMs. Azza Soliman, which only aims at sanctioning her legitimate human rightsactivities, and urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately drop all chargesagainst her and lift all assets freezes.

BackgroundInformation:

OnJanuary 24, 2015, Ms. Soliman voluntary went to the Public Prosecution's officeto give her testimony regarding the violent dispersal by security forces of aprotest organised on the same day by the political party “Popular Alliance”,which led to the death of political activist Ms. Shaimaa El Sabbagh. Ms.Soliman did not take part in the protest, but was coincidentally in the samearea and witnessed the dispersal and the shooting of the activist.

After waiting several hours at the Public Prosecution's office, Ms. Soliman wasfinally able to give her testimony, pointing to the responsibility of thepolice for the death of the activist. Ms. Soliman also filed a complaintaccusing the Minister of Interior and security forces of having violentlydispersed the peaceful protest.

Upon completion of her testimony, the prosecutor then interrogated her, andinformed her that he was going to press charges against her and four otherwitnesses for “illegal gathering” and “participating in a protest that harmedpublic security”. Ms. Soliman was released along with the other four, pendinginvestigation.

On March 23, 2015, Ms. Soliman was formally charged with “unauthorisedprotest”, and “breach of security and public order”. Along with Ms. Soliman,sixteen others were charged, including Ms. Nagwa Abbass, member of theSocialist Popular Alliance Party.

On March 28, 2015, the lawyers of Ms. Soliman requested from the GeneralProsecutor to include her as a witness and not as a defendant in the case,however on March 31, this request was denied.

On April 4, 2015, the first hearing took place before the Abdeen MisdemeanorCourt. Ms. Soliman's lawyers requested adjournment, as they had not been ableto access the criminal files[3].The request was granted and the Court adjourned the hearing to May 9, 2015. OnMay 9, the judge heard requests made by lawyers of other accused and adjournedthe hearing to May 23, 2015.

On May 23, 2015, the Abdeen Misdemanour Court acquitted Ms. Soliman on chargesof “unauthorised protest” and “breach of security and public order”. However, on May 26, 2015, the Public Prosecutionappealed the decision. The first court hearing was due to be held on September26, but was then postponed to October 24, 2015.

Meanwhile, on June 11, 2015, one police officer was sentenced to 15 yearsimprisonment on charges of “beating leading to death” of Ms. Shaimaa AlSabbagh.

OnOctober 24, 2015, the Qasr Al Nil Appeal Court confirmed the acquittal of Ms.Azza Soliman along with sixteen other defendants on charges of “unauthorisedprotesting” and “breach of security and public order”. This decision is finaland not subject to appeal.

On November 17, 2016, MsAzza Soliman attempted to travel from Egypt to Jordan in order to participatein a training for the Mushawah movement, an organisation promoting equitywithin the Muslim community, when she was informed by the authorities that shewas banned from travelling. This followed a judicial order instructed that sameday by the investigative judge in the case No. 173/2011, commonly known as“NGOs foreign funding case”, which also ordered the freezing of her personal aswell as her law firm’s assets.

Ms. Soliman was neverinformed of any charges against her or summoned for interrogation. She is thethird human rights defender and NGO Director to be banned from travelling thismonth, a few days after human rights lawyers Ahmad Ragheb, Founder ofthe National Community for Human Rights and Law (NCHRL) and Malek Adly,Director of the Lawyers Network of the Egyptian Center for Economic and SocialRights (ECESR).

On December 7, 2016 ataround 1.30 pm, police officers came to the house of Ms. Azza Soliman in theearly afternoon presenting her an arrest warrant issued by investigative JudgeHisham Abdel Meguid, investigating on the case No. 173/2001 (commonly known asthe “NGO foreign funding case) (see background information). This is the firstarrest warrant to be issued against an NGO worker in relation to this case. Thecharges brought against her are of “receiving foreign funding to harm theState’s interest”, “establishment of an entity that conducts activities similarto that of associations' activities“ and “tax evasion”. She has been taken byforce to the Masr Al Jdede (Heliopolis) Police Station, and afterwards broughtto the New Cairo Court before the investigative judge.

After several hours ofinterrogation, Ms. Soliman was finally released in the evening of the same dayat around 8 pm after paying a bail of 20,000 EGP (approx. 1,080 €).

This new act ofharassment against Ms. Soliman comes only three weeks after she was informed ofa travel ban ordered without any court hearing and preventing her from leavingEgypt and of the attempt to freeze her personal assets, along with her law firmassets. Ms. Soliman and her associate were in the process of investigating thereasons of these two consecutive harassment measures at the time of the arrest.Indeed, the same investigative judge requested a felony court to freeze herassets. The court set December 12, 2016 as the date for the hearing.

Actions requested:

Please write to the authorities of Egypt asking them to:

i. Drop all charges againstMs. Azza Soliman as well as of all human rights defenders in Egypt;

ii. Immediately andunconditionally lift the travel ban and assets freezes imposed against her;

iii. Conform with theprovisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by theGeneral Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially Articles1 and 12.2; and

iv. More generally, ensurein all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms inaccordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and withinternational and regional human rights instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republic of Egypt,H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fax: +202 23901998
· Prime Minister, Mr. Sherif Ismail. Fax: + 202 2735 6449 / 27958016. Email: primemin@idsc.gov.eg
· Minister of the Interior, General MagdyAbdel Ghaffar, E-mail: moi1@idsc.gov.eg, Fax: +202 2579 2031 / 2794 5529

· Minister of Justice, Mr. Ahmed Al-Zanad, E-mail: mojeb@idsc.gov.eg, Fax: +2022795 8103
· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor NabeelSadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716
· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of theNational Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E. Ms. Wafaa Bassim, Ambassador, Permanent Mission of Egypt to the UnitedNations in Geneva, Email: mission.egypt@ties.itu.int, Fax: +41 22 738 44 15

· Embassy of Egypt in Brussels, Fax: +32 2 675.58.88; Email:embassy.egypt@skynet.be

Please also write to the diplomatic missions or embassies of Egypt in yourrespective country.

***

Geneva-Paris, December15, 2016

Kindlyinform us of any action undertaken quoting the code of this appeal in yourreply.

TheObservatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (the Observatory) wascreated in 1997 by the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. Theobjective of this programme is to intervene to prevent or remedy situations ofrepression against human rights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both membersof ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights Defenders Mechanism implemented byinternational civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call theemergency line:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 41 22 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 43 55 18 80

[1] See the Observatory Joint Statement of November 9, 2016.

[2] See the Observatory Urgent Appeal EGY 004 / 0615 / OBS 049.7 issued onSeptember 19, 2016.

[3] Before the first hearing on April 4, the lawyers weretold that they needed to first sign a paper stating that Ms. Soliman is adefendant and not a witness in the case, before getting access to the casefile.