New information

EGY 004 / 0616 / OBS 049.10

Judicial harassment /

Summoning

Egypt
June 20, 2018

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

New information:

The Observatory has beeninformed by reliable sources about the summoning of Ms. Mozn Hassan, women human rights defender and founder and ExecutiveDirector of Nazra for Feminist studies[1].

According to the information received, onJune 18, 2018, Ms. Mozn Hassan was summoned by the investigative judge of the CairoCourt in Fifth Settlement District, in relation with criminal case No. 173/2011on Foreign Funding[2].She will appear in front of the court on June 20, 2018.

Ms. Hassan faces possible charges of “establishingan entity in violation of the NGO law”, tax evasion, and “receiving foreignfunds with the intention of harming national security”, according to which shecould be sentenced to life imprisonment, under article 78 (a) of the Egyptian CriminalCode.

The Observatory recalls that case No.173/2011 was reopened against Ms. Mozn Hassan in March 2016 and that her assetsas well as the assets of her organization have been frozen by the court on January11, 2017 (see background information). Prior to this summoning, Ms. Mozn Hassanwas summoned for investigation on March 22, 2016 but her interrogation waspostponed indefinitely until June 18, 2018. Furthermore, Ms. Hassan iscurrently subjected to a travel ban, in relation to the same case and tocharges of “inciting and calling for the irresponsible liberation of women”.

The Observatory stronglycondemns the ongoing judicial harassment against Ms. Mozn Hassan, which onlyaims at silencing her peaceful and legitimate activities in defense of womenhuman rights. The Observatory is particularly concerned as Ms. Mozn Hassan’ssummoning comes amidst an unprecedented crackdown on civil society in Egypt, inwhich three human rights defenders have already been arrested since May 11,2018[3].

The Observatory urges the Egyptianauthorities to put an end to all forms of harassment, including at the judiciallevel, against Ms. Mozn Hassan and all human rights defenders in Egypt.

Background information:

Since 2011, the Egyptian Government haslaunched a judicial harassment campaign against civil society organisations onthe pretext that they received unauthorised foreign funding under criminal caseNo. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case against NGOs”.

The 2011 Government Fact-Finding Committeereport, which formed the basis of the first trial in 2012, listed 37 NGOs whocould be targeted under this “foreign funding case against NGOs”. That listincluded ACIJLP, CIHRS, LCHR, the Egyptian Democratic Academy (EDA), HMLC,ANHRI, EIPR, El Nadim Center for the Management and Rehabilitation of Victimsof Violence and Torture, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR),the Arab Penal Reform Organization, the Egyptian Center for the Right toEducation, El-Haq, the Egyptian Association for Community ParticipationEnhancement (ACPE), Nazra for Feminist Studies, the Appropriate CommunicationsTechnologies (ACT), among others.

On March 22, 2016, Ms. Mozn Hassan wassummoned to appear before New Cairo Court in relation to criminal case No.173/2011, together with two other members of her association. On March 29,2016, the judge notified their lawyers that he would have specified anappointment for them to review the case papers and that he would then havesummoned Ms. Hassan for another day.

On June 27, 2016 Ms. Mozn Hassan was informedby authorities at the Cairo International Airport that a travel ban had beenimposed on her, under the framework of the “NGO Foreign Funding Case”. Ms. MoznHassan had attempted to travel to participate in the Executive Committeemeeting of the Women Human Right Defenders (WHRD) Regional Coalition for theMiddle East and North Africa, taking place during the period of June 27 to July1, 2016.

On December 12, 2016, the investigative judgerequested the North Cairo Court to freeze the assets of Ms. Mozn Hassan,Founder and Executive Director of Nazra for Feminist Studies, as well as the assetsof her organisations. On January 11, 2017 the North Cairo Elementary Court acceptedhis request and froze Ms. Hassan’s personal assets and those of herassociation.

Actions requested:

Please write to theauthorities of Egypt asking them to:

1. Guarantee in all circumstances the physical and psychological integrity of Ms. Mozn Hassan and all human rights defenders in Egypt;

2. Put an end to all acts of harassment, including at the judicial level, against Ms. Mozn Hassan and all human rights defenders in Egypt, and ensure that they are able to carry out their activities without hindrance;

3. Immediately and unconditionally lift the assets freezes against the defenders and organisations mentioned in this appeal, as well as against all the other human rights defenders and organisations in Egypt, within the case No. 173/2011;

4. Guarantee in all circumstances the freedom of movement and association of human rights defenders, by immediately and unconditionally lifting all travel bans and assets freeze imposed against them, as they aim only at sanctioning their legitimate human rights activities;

5. Conform with the provisions of the UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, especially Articles 1 and 12.2; and

6. More generally, ensure in all circumstances the respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in accordance with the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with international and regional human rights instruments ratified by Egypt.

Addresses:

· President of the Arab Republic ofEgypt, H.E. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, Fax: +202 2391 1441. Email: p.spokesman@op.gov.eg, Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

· Prime Minister, Mr. Mustafa KemalMadbouly Mohamed. Email: pm@cabinet.gov.eg​​

· Minister of the Interior, Mr. MahmoudTawfik, Email: center@iscmi.gov.eg

· Minister of Justice, Mr. MohamedHossam Abdel-Rahim, Fax: +202 2795 8103 


· Minister of Social Solidarity, Mrs.Ghada Wali, Tel: +202 333 75420

· Public Prosecutor, Counsellor NabeelSadek, Fax: +202 2577 4716

· Head of the Egyptian parliament's Human RightsCommittee, Mr. Alaa Abed, Email: humanrightscomplaints@parliament.gov.eg

· Mr. Mohamed Fayeq, President of theNational Council For Human Rights, Fax: + 202 25747497 / 25747670. Email: nchr@nchr.org.eg

· H.E. Mr. Alaa Youssef, Ambassador,Permanent Mission of Egypt to the United Nations in Geneva, Switzerland, Email:mission.egypt@bluewin.ch

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

Please also write to the diplomatic missions orembassies of Egypt in your respective country.

***

Geneva-Paris, June 20, 2018

Kindly inform us of any action undertakenquoting the code of this appeal in your reply.

The Observatory for the Protection of HumanRights Defenders (the Observatory) was created in 1997 by the WorldOrganisation Against Torture (OMCT) and FIDH. The objective of this programmeis to intervene to prevent or remedy situations of repression against humanrights defenders. FIDH and OMCT are both members of ProtectDefenders.eu, the European Union Human Rights DefendersMechanism implemented by international civil society.

To contact the Observatory, call the emergencyline:

· E-mail: Appeals@fidh-omct.org

· Tel and fax OMCT + 4122 809 49 39 / + 41 22 809 49 29

· Tel and fax FIDH + 33 1 43 55 25 18 / +33 1 4355 18 80

[1] Nazra for FeministStudies (Nazra) was created in 2007 to foster the development of feministmovements in Egypt and in the MENA region. Since 2011, Nazra has documentedhuman rights violations in particular with regard to the alarming number ofsexual assaults on women during the public protests during and after theEgyptian revolution, and played a central role in ensuring that victims haveaccess to medical, psychological and legal services.

[2] See the Observatory’sUrgent Appeal EGY 004 / 0616 / OBS 049.9, published on January 11, 2017.

[3] See the Observatory’sUrgent Appeals EGY 003 / 0518 / OBS 075, published on May 24, 2018, EGY 003 /0518 / OBS 069, published on May 23, 2018 and EGY 002 / 0518 / OBS 059.1,published on May 14, 2018..