Joint Press Release: The United Nations Working Group declares the detention of Yara Sallam as arbitrary and requests compensation

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JOINTPRESS RELEASE

THEOBSERVATORY FOR THE PROTECTION OF HUMAN RIGHTS DEFENDERS

(FIDH-OMCT)

CAIROINSTITUTE FOR HUMAN RIGHTS STUDIES (CIHRS)

EGYPTIANINITIATIVE FOR PERSONAL RIGHTS (EIPR)

Cairo-Geneva-Paris, January 20, 2016 – A UN expert body, the Working Group onArbitrary Detention (WGAD), declares the detention of human rights defenderYara Sallam, as arbitrary, and requests immediate compensation. Several humanrights groups urge the Egyptian authorities to apply this Opinion in relationto the numerous similar cases of human rights defenders arbitrarily detained inapplication of the draconian Protest Law.

In August 2014, the Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), referredthe case of Ms. Yara Sallam to theUnited Nations (UN) Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD). Ms. YaraSallam was the Transitional Justice Officer at the Egyptian Initiative forPersonal Rights (EIPR). In December 2014, she was sentenced in appeal alongwith 22 other protesters including Ms. Sanaa Seif, a member of the “Noto Military Trials for Civilians” movement, to two years of imprisonment andtwo years of police surveillance on charges of “breaching the protest law” under the “Anti-ProtestLaw”, “sabotaging public properties”, “possession of inflammable materials” and“taking part in showing off force with the objective of terrorising thepublic”. She was released on September 23, 2015, by presidential pardon.

In an opinion adopted in December 2015, the UN WGAD concluded that “Ms.Sallam has been deprived of liberty for having peacefully exercised her rightto freedom of expression and freedom of association as guaranteed by Articles19 and 20 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) and Articles 19and 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)”,the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Sallam thus falling within category II of thecategories applicable to the consideration of cases submitted to the UN WGAD.Moreover, the UN WGAD also considered that “the non-observance of theinternational norms relating to the right to a fair trial and to liberty andsecurity, established in article 9 of the UDHR and article 9 of the ICCPR inthis case is of such gravity as to give the deprivation of liberty of Ms.Sallam an arbitrary character” the deprivation of liberty of Ms. Sallam alsofalling within category III of the categories applicable to the considerationof cases submitted to the UN WGAD. Accordingly, the UN WGAD requested “theGovernment to take the necessary steps to remedy the situation of Ms. Sallamand bring it into conformity with the standards and principles set forth in theUDHR and ICCPR””

“While our organisations welcome the opinion rendered by the UN WGAD, wewould like to recall that many human rights defenders are still unjustly behindbars in Egypt. We reiterate our call to the Egyptian authorities for theimmediate and unconditional release of all human rights defenders currentlydetained in violation of their right to freedom of expression and freedom ofassociation and assembly”, said Karim Lahidji, FIDH President.

The case of Yara Sallam is an illustration of a wider trend ofrepression against human rights defenders in Egypt. The restrictive Protest Law(Law No. 107 of 2013), which bans gatherings of ten or more people without apermit issued by the authorities, has been repeatedly used by the authoritiesas a tool to harass and imprison human rights defenders that dare to speak outagainst governmental policies that violate human rights.

“As long as the 2013 Protest law will be in force, human rights in Egyptincluding the rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association andassembly will systematically and continuously be violated. The Egyptianauthorities must absolutely amend this law and make it compliant with thecountry's international law obligations”, said Gerald Staberock, OMCT Secretary General.

“Yara Sallam’s case isnot unique, throughout the past two years, several hundreds of individuals havebeen arrested and deprived from their liberties under similar circumstances towhat the WGAD has ruled as arbitrary. It is important for the Egyptiangovernment to understand that stability would be realized once authoritiesuphold the rule of law and the rights of their citizens. The WGAD decision onYara is a reminder of this”, said MohamedZaree, Egypt Program Manager at CIHRS.

CIHRS, EIPR and theObservatory call upon the Egyptian authorities to implement the UN WGADdecision and remedy to the situation of Ms. Yara Sallam, and immediately andunconditionally release all human rights defenders in Egypt arrested under therepressive 2013 protest law, among others Ms. Mahienour El-Massry, Mr. Youssef Shaban, Mr. Loay Mohamed Abdel Rahman[1] and Mr.Alaa Abdel-Fattah[2].

For more information, pleasecontact:

· CIHRS: MohamedZaree: (+202) 27931104 - 27931105

· EIPR: Yara Sallam:(+202) 27960158 - 27960197

· FIDH: Audrey Couprie / ArthurManet: (+33) 1 43 55 25 18

· OMCT: DelphineReculeau / Miguel Martín Zumalacárregui: (+41) 22 809 49 39

[1] See Observatory Urgent Appeal EGY 001 / 0514 / OBS 045.8

[2] See Observatory Urgent Appeal EGY 002 / 1113 / OBS 095.7