11-10-2010
By Elisa Massimino, President and CEO
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| Help Egyptians get a fair election |
Last June, police in Egypt dragged Khaled Saeed out of an Internet café and beat him to death right on the street. He had recently posted a video online exposing police corruption.
He is not alone. Human rights defenders in Egypt have told us that the government has kidnapped bloggers and Internet activists, tortured them, and then imprisoned them until the bruises on their bodies have disappeared so there is no evidence of abuse.
National elections are looming, so the government is cracking down even harder. It has to stop–we can’t afford to delay one moment.
Human Rights First is working to hold Egypt’s government accountable by partnering with Egyptian activists and pressuring the U.S. administration to reinforce its demands that international election monitors be let into the country.
We have been working with activists in Egypt for over twenty years now. We have consistently reported on abuses by the Egyptian government, and pressured the U.S. administration to take action. This election season, we are supporting critical efforts to bring transparency to the elections. We could use your help.
In 2003, we were instrumental in the acquittal of Saad Eddin Ibrahim, who had been jailed by the Egyptian government for his work to bring fair elections to his country. Today, Saad is a supporter of Human Rights First, and helps us partner with activists on the ground in Egypt.
This year, President Obama told the UN that it is time for every state to permit access to international election monitors. So far Egypt has not listened, and instead continues to beat protestors into silence. The Egyptian government must be held accountable.
With the elections less than three weeks away, there are only days left to make a strong push for democracy and human rights to Egypt.
That’s why we need your support so we can continue to document abuses, publicize them, and put political pressure on the Egyptian government to stop them. Egyptians deserve fair elections and we’ll do our best to fight for it.
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