|  Freed Activist Asks You to Help Release Others Still Detained in Egypt’s Jails
June 29 , 2006
A message from Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam, an award-winning Egyptian blogger who was detained on May 7 for participating in a demonstration in solidarity with reformist judges, and released on June 20, after much international attention and pressure, including an appeal from Human Rights First.
I write to you as a free man. But many of my friends and fellow human rights activists are still in detention, and need your help.
Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir were detained in Cairo on May 25, while taking part in a demonstration commemorating the anniversary of police violence against journalists and protestors the previous year. Only two days before the protest, both Mohammed and Karim had been released from prison for their earlier participation in protests. They were forcefully taken away by groups of plain clothed security officers, and beaten. Mohammed al-Sharqawi was later tortured and sexually harassed by security officers.
They remain unjustly imprisoned and subjected to torture and ill-treatment for criticizing the lack of democratic freedoms in Egypt. Mohammed has smuggled letters from his prison cell that were published on his blog which describe the torture and sexual abuse that he has suffered, and he continues to be denied necessary medical care.
I can testify to the impact of international support - both in providing hope to imprisoned human rights defenders and in securing their release. Please join Human Rights First in calling for the immediate release of Mohammed al-Sharqawi, Karim al-Sha’ir, and all the other courageous advocates of human rights in Egypt.
Thank you,
Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam
Tell Me More
Mohamed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir were detained on May 25, 2006 in Cairo after participating in a peaceful demonstration in solidarity with all activists subjected to state violence. Both were dragged away and beaten brutally by police, and remain imprisoned after their 15-day sentences were renewed under Egypt’s emergency law.
Al-Sharqawi, the blogger of http://speaksfreely.net, was attacked while leaving the Egyptian Press Syndicate. About 20 State Security officers dragged him into a building where he was severely beaten, before transporting him to Qasr el-Nil police station where police continued to beat him for hours, and then raped him with a cardboard tube. In letters smuggled from his prison cell, al-Sharqawi has provided written testimony of the torture and sexual abuse he has suffered while in detention:
http://arabist.net/archives/2006/05/28/a-letter-from-sharqawi/.
One of his lawyers, Gamal Eid, stated after seeing him that night: “I hadn’t seen anyone that badly tortured in 12 years.” Repeated requests for medical treatment were denied by the prosecutor for four days, and the treatment eventually given to al-Sharqawi has not been satisfactory. No criminal investigation has yet been opened into al-Sharqawi’s torture while in detention.
Al-Sha’ir, head of the “Egypt is Free” Blog and a trainee journalist at the al-Karam newspaper, was dragged from his car by plain clothed policemen who, according to the testimony of BBC journalists who were with him, beat him violently before throwing him into another car.
The past year has seen an upsurge in popular activism that attended the presidential and parliamentary elections, and the emergence of a popular protest movement, known by the Arabic term Kifaya, meaning “Enough” in 2005.
Opposition activists have focused their efforts on a call for political change in Egypt, which has been ruled for the past 25 years by President Hosni Mubarak, who was reelected for another six year term in 2005 after a rigged, but contested election. Activists are also calling for an end to Egypt’s permanent state of emergency, which provides the presidency with enormous unchecked powers, and for the independence of the judiciary as a check on these excesses.
Public protests died down after the parliamentary elections in November 2005, but sprang up again in April 2006 when two senior judges, Hisham al-Bastawisi and Mahmud Mekki were made to appear before a disciplinary tribunal for exposing irregularities that took place during the elections, and for asserting the role of judges in ensuring a fair electoral process. Protests in support of the judges took place in central Cairo until May 18, when the tribunal ruled that the two judges would not lose their positions as a result of their stand.
Al-Sharqawi and al-Sha’ir had been released on May 22, after being detained for their previous participation in protests. On May 25, both took part in a mass protest in support of reformist judges and to mark the first anniversary of widespread violence against opposition activists. This demonstration, like the earlier ones, was brutally broken up by riot police and scores more demonstrators were taken into detention.
At least six bloggers, including al-Sharqawi and al-Sha’ir, were among those detained, and their supporters allege that they have been particularly targeted by the police because of their activities as “citizen journalists,” reporting news that is ignored by the state dominated media in Egypt.
On May 27, a group of prisoners detained over the past month for participating in peaceful demonstrations in solidarity with reformist judges announced they were beginning a hunger strike to protest the treatment of al-Sharqawi and al-Sha`ir, and to demand the release of all those held for participating in the recent demonstrations. On May 30, visitors to the prison reported that 13 hunger strikers had been transferred to solitary confinement. On June 26, the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, about 20 activists staged a silent protest outside the Sayyeda Zeinab police station in Cairo.
Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir and scores of other mostly young people are being held in detention for exercising their basic rights to freedom of expression and assembly. These are rights upheld in the Egyptian Constitution, but curtailed under the state of emergency; they are also upheld in binding international human rights treaties to which Egypt is a State Party, like the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
Egypt’s brutal suppression of nonviolent protesters in recent months has been widely criticized by the international community. It, too, is a violation of Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law. The testimonies to torture also constitute a violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture which has been ratified by Egypt.
Human Rights First is calling for the immediate release of Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir and all other protesters who are still held in detention. Human Rights First also calls on the Egyptian government to permit peaceful public protests to take place freely. The pattern of excessive use of force, beatings and torture used by the security forces in recent weeks is illegal and should be prevented by the authorities. We call for an immediate investigation of all officers accused of such methods, and call for them to be held accountable under Egyptian and international law.
Sample Letter
His Excellency General Habib al-Adli
Minister of the Interior
Ministry of the Interior
Al-Sheikh Rihan Street, Bab al-Louk,
Cairo, Egypt
moi@idsc.gov.eg
Fax: +202 579 2031
Your Excellency,
I am writing to express my deep concern about the continued detention of Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir, two young bloggers who were detained in central Cairo on May 25, 2006, after having taken part in a peaceful demonstration to mark widespread violence against protestors. I understand that their detention was extended for another 15 days on June 20, using the powers of administrative detention available under Egypt’s emergency law.
I am particularly concerned that Mr. al-Sharqawi, Mr. al-Sha’ir and other young activists are being singled out for their political writings and for openly criticizing government practices. Mr. al-Sharqawi and Mr. al-Sha’ir had both been detained previously for exercising their basic right to freedom of expression and assembly, and had only been released on May 22 before being detained again.
Both young men have testified to being brutally beaten by plain clothed state security officers who intercepted them as they were departing the protest site, and again while they were interrogated in prison. Mr. al-Sharqawi has testified to being tortured by police officers, who beat him for hours, targeting specific parts of his body and sexually assaulting him.
The detention of Mr. al-Sharqawi and Mr. al-Sha’ir, and the hundreds of other protestors, is a violation of their basic right to freedom of expression and assembly, as upheld in the Egyptian Constitution as well as in international human rights treaties to which Egypt is a State Party, such as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. The brutal suppression of protestors is a violation of the 1998 UN Declaration on Human Rights Defenders, which guarantees individuals and groups the right to freely “publish, impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms."
Furthermore, failure to investigate the alleged torture of detainees constitutes a violation of the United Nations Convention Against Torture, which Egypt has ratified.
I urge that you adhere to international standards protecting the right to freedom of expression and assembly, and immediately release Mohammed al-Sharqawi and Karim al-Sha’ir, and the scores of other protesters who are still held in detention. I also call on the Egyptian government to permit peaceful public protests to take place without interference or suppression.
Furthermore, I demand an immediate investigation into the brutal methods used against Mr. al-Sharqawi in particular, and that those responsible be held accountable under the law.
Thank you for your attention to this urgent matter.
cc.
Ambassador M. Nabil Fahmy
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: (202) 244-4319
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