Joint Statement: Civil society faces existential threat

The international community must also demandan end to these grave violations against human rights defenders, bothindividuals and independent human rights groups, in Egypt, and ensure that theirhuman rights and fundamental freedoms are respected. Individuals and independenthuman rights groups must be able to work freely, without intimidation,harassment or hindrance from the authorities simply for doing their humanrights work.

“For years we have had shrinking space for civil society in Egypt but thespace is now closing completely,” says Mozn Hassan, director ofNazra for Feminist Studies. Hassan is the leader of one of several prominentEgyptian civil society organizations whose funding and registration are beinginvestigated by the authorities in Case 173 of 2011, referred to by the mediaas the “foreign funding case.” Under Article 78 of the penal code, individuals may face a25-year prison sentence and a 500,000 Egyptian pound fine (US$56,300) forreceiving money or material for acts that would harm Egypt’s “national interest,undermine the country’s “territorial integrity” or disturb “the public peace.”Egypt’s laws restricting foreign funding have been repeatedly criticised by UNbodies monitoring Egypt’s compliance with international human rights treaties.The right to freedom of association is established under Article 75 of Egypt’s constitution,passed in 2014, and Article 22 of the International Covenant of Civil and PoliticalRights, to which Egypt is a state party.

Staff from groups, including the ArabicNetwork for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies(CIHRS), Nazra for Feminist Studies and Andalus Institutefor Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies, have been summoned for investigation. Judgesinvestigating the case have ordered asset freezes against directors or foundersof CIHRS, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), ANHRI, the HishamMubarak Law Center, and the Egyptian Center for the Right to Education, and theAndalus Institute and also against the Andalus Institute as an organisation. Theseorders are currently under review by criminal courts. A judicial committee hasimposed a gag order on the press, prohibiting media outlets from publishinganything on the case other than statements issued by the presiding judges untilthe investigations are complete.

Leaders of Egyptian civil society organizations, such as Mohammed Zaree, directorof the CIHRS office in Cairo, Mohamed Lotfy, director of the EgyptianCommission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), Gamal Eid, director of ANHRI, andinvestigative journalist Hossam Bahgat, who founded the EIPR, have been bannedfrom travelling outside Egypt, while several employees of Egyptian groups havebeen detained. Since February, the Egyptian authorities have repeatedly triedto shut down ElNadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Torture Victims after the governmentordered its closure.

“The current situation isterrible and more dangerous than ever for Egyptian civil society. Several ofour projects to improve women’s rights were stopped by the Ministry of SocialSolidarity with the excuse of security concerns but no reasons for the securityconcerns are given. The Egyptian courts, police and military are all workingtogether against civil society and the Egyptian Constitution,” saysAzza Soliman, Chair of the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance.

In the early hours of 25 April, ahead of planned protests that day, theco-founder of ECRF, Ahmed Abdullah, wasarrested from his home by security forces and subjected to ill-treatment.According to Amnesty International, who spoke with his representatives, anarresting officer struck him repeatedly on the head using the butt of his gun. On 5 May, lawyer Malek Adly fromthe Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights was arrested and has sincesuffered ill-treatment in Tora Prison, where authorities have held him inisolation and temporarily refused to allow his family to deliver him food andmedicine. On 19 May, minority rights expert Mina Thabet from ECRF was also arrested fromhis home and ill-treated by security officers, who beat him and cursed hisfamily. Thabet and Abdullah are being investigated on accusations of violating Egypt’s Counter-Terrorism Law (Law 94 of 2015) and ProtestLaw (Law 107 of 2013).

The Counter-Terrorism Law, passed by presidential decree in August 2015, containsa vague and overly broad definition of “terrorist act” that can be used to effectivelycriminalize freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association. TheProtest Law, signed into law by former President Adly Mansour, gives securityforces sweeping powers to disperse demonstrations, which have not been approvedby the authorities.

These measures come as the Egyptian governmentcloses down almost all spaces for civic participation in the country, imposing harshrestrictions on the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of expression, aswell as on the work of lawyers, journalists, academics, student unions, tradeunions and others. According to the Front of Defence for Egyptian Protestors, police arrested 1,277 people between 15 and 27 April in relation toprotests regarding the Egyptian government’s transfer of two Red Sea islands toSaudi Arabia. More than 600 faced trial for breaches of the Protest Law, and on 14 May,152 were given prison sentences of between two and five years. Fortyseven of those sentences were later reduced to fines of 100,000 pounds (US$11,270)each, and the rest remain on appeal.

On 7 May, a court announced it intended tosentence two Al-Jazeera journalists todeath in their absence on espionage charges. The judgement will either beapproved or reduced in June after consultations with Egypt’s mufti, the highestSunni religious leader in the country, whose opinion is not binding. On 23 May Frenchjournalist Remy Pigaglio was deniedentry without any explanation. According to the ECRF, in the eight monthsbetween August 2015 and March 2016 at least 540 people were forciblydisappeared, many of them subjected to torture and other ill-treatment.

The international community must not overlookthe serious violations of rights in Egypt while it engages in political and securitycooperation that assists the Egyptian government in its crackdown. Long-termstability in Egypt can only be achieved through rule of law, respect for humanrights and freedoms, and independence of the judiciary. There are few chancesleft to save Egyptian civil society from being completely crushed. “The aim of the government with the foreignfunding case is not only to eliminate civil society today but to make sure thatwe will not be able to build up even ten years from now” Mohamed Zaree, directorof the CIHRS office in Cairo, says.

The undersigned organisations urge the Egyptianauthorities to immediately take the following steps to address the severeviolations against human rights defenders:

· Abide by their own pledges made in March 2015at the conclusion of Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review before the UnitedNations Human Rights Council to “respect the free exercise of the associationsdefending human rights,” and comply with their obligations under Article 75 ofthe 2014 Constitution, which protects civil society organizations frominterference by the government.

· Close the politically-motivated Case 173 of2011, known as the “foreign funding case,” and withdraw all measures ofharassment and intimidation of human rights defenders taken with reference to thatcase, including travel bans, the asset freeze order and trumped-up taxinvestigations.

· Amendpenal code Article 78, which in very broad terms penalises the receipt of foreignfunding without government approval and imposes a penalty of up to lifeimprisonment, which in practice in Egypt is 25 years, in addition to a 500,000 Egyptian pound fine (US$56,300).

· Cease all additional forms of legal and other harassmentof human rights defenders.

· Repeal the Protest Law (Law 107 of 2013),which severely restricts the right to peaceful assembly, or amend it in orderto bring it in line with international human rights law and the Egyptian constitution.

· Repeal the Counter-Terrorism Law (Law 94 of2015), which effectively criminalizes freedom of expression, association andassembly, or amend it substantially to bring it in line with internationalhuman rights law and standards.

· Immediately release all individuals imprisonedsolely for the peaceful exercise of their rights to freedom of expression,association and assembly; drop the charges against them and ensure that any whohave been convicted have their convictions quashed.

Signed by:

1. Amnesty International

2. CIVICUS: World Alliance for CitizenParticipation

3.EuroMed Rights

4.FIDH, in the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human RightsDefenders

5.Front Line Defenders

6. Human Rights Watch

7.IFEX

8.International Commission of Jurists

9.International Service for Human Rights

10. People in Need (Člověkv tísni, o. p. s.)

11.World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), in the framework of the Observatoryfor the Protection of Human Rights Defenders