Prominent Women Human Rights Defender Esraa Abdel-Fattah Banned From Traveling Outside Egypt

13/01/2015

On the morning of 13 January 2015, Cairo International Airport stopped prominent women human rights defender Esraa Abdel-Fattah from embarking on a flight to Germany, and Ms. Abdel-Fattah was informed that this is a result of a travel ban issued against her by the security administration. Esraa Abdel-Fattah was not notified prior to this morning that there is a travel ban officially issued against her.

Esraa Abdel-Fattah is a prominent women human rights defender and activist. She started her activism in 2008 as she co-founded the April 6 Movement, and is known for her activism for the rights of workers and spread of democracy. She was previously imprisoned in Qanater Women's Prison in 2008 for a couple of weeks, as a result of her defense of human rights. Moreover, Esraa Abdel-Fattah, known as the "Facebook Girl" used to be the Projects Manager at the Egyptian Democratic Academy, an non-governmental organization that promotes the use of new media tools to foster democracy and human rights values, particularly for marginalized groups, and is currently the Digital and Social Media Specialist at Egyptian Newspaper Youm7. Ms. Abdel-Fattah is one of the iconic figures of the January 25, 2011 Revolution, and is the subject of mass smear campaigns in the media, where a satellite channel known for its support to the Egyptian government, had named her a traitor and called for her punishment by hanging. Ms. Abdel- Fattah's name was put forward for the Nobel Peace Prize in 2011, and she was named by "Glamour" Woman of the Year on October 31, 2011.

Nazra for Feminist Studies urges the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally revoke the travel ban issued against women human rights defender Esraa Abdel-Fattah, and to publicly announce the names of human rights defenders, women human rights defenders and activists against whom a travel ban is issued, in addition to publicly announcing the reason behind the concerned bans and the legal basis on which they are issued, and whether there are any charges directed at them or not.

Nazra for Feminist Studies (http://nazra.org/en) is a group that is based in Egypt with special consultative status with the Economic and Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC). Nazra aims to build an Egyptian feminist movement, believing that feminism and gender are political and social issues affecting freedom