URGENT NEWS: SEND YOUR SIGNATURES TO PRESIDENT AL-SISI BY WEDNESDAY THE 29TH OF MARCH
Last week - we were alarmed by news from our sisters in Nazra Feminist Studies in Egypt about the summoning of their staff by the Egyptian court for their alleged breach of the controversial law on receiving "foreign funding". This is just one of a series of events of what seems to be an orchestrated clampdown on Egyptian human rights organisations and which could cripple their activities in defending the rights of others.
A court is expected to rule on the asset freeze ordered against two prominent human rights defenders: Gamal Eid, a lawyer who heads the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, and journalist Hossam Bahgat, former head of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights. The two men are accused of illegally receiving funding of $1.5 million from a foreign government. Their prosecutions are part of a case that dates back to 2011 when 43 staff from international NGOs were charged with receiving funds from a foreign government without a license. In addition, this week Muzen Hassan, director of the Nazra Centre for Feminist Studies, was summoned for investigation by an examining magistrate on 29 March, in connection with the issue of "foreign funding" of NGOs. Travel bans have already been issued to several of key activists.
In a statement by the UN High Commissioner on Human Rights, it was stressed that “everyone has the right to receive funds to promote human rights through peaceful means. The Egyptian authorities must stop all prosecutions targeting legitimate human rights activities and in particular terminate the cases against Hossam Bahgat and Gamal Eid, who by international standards have clearly not committed any crime” .
We need to act fast because the threat of arrest after the hearing of Mozn onthe 29 March and the threat of freezing of personal assets of Hossam and Gamal seem imminent.
We are issuing this collective appeal and we are asking you to join us by sending your name, title/ name of organisation and country to fatou@wluml.org and to weldd.edna@gmail.com. We need your signatures by the end of the day on Wednesday.
Likewise, we encourage you to adapt this appeal as your own , get others to join your appeals and send the appeal with the signatures to the addresses in the document OR send the names to us so we can add them into WLUML's collective appeal. Post it on your websites so people can send it with their tweets of Egyptian President Al Si-si's tiwtter account. We are also preparing the Arabic and French translations of this appeal.
Many thanks in advance for your response and solidarity.
Edna Aquino and Fatou Sow
