Urge Egyptian Government to Release Online Activists
 
Alert Issued: September 25, 2008

UPDATE: There have been two recent developments affecting freedom of expression in Egypt:

• On September 27, the Egyptian Foreign Minister addressed the U.N. with comments that further called into question Egypt’s commitment to freedom of expression;
• On September 28, a court upheld the verdict against Ibrahim Eissa, editor of Al-Dostour, sentencing him to two months in prison.

This week an Egyptian delegation headed by Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit arrived in New York City to participate in the United Nations General Assembly.  Even as these officials speak on behalf of their country, the Egyptian government continues its assault on free expression. 

At this moment, three bloggers in detention are:

• Mosaad Suleiman Hassan (better known by his pen name Mosaad Abu Fajr), novelist and activist from the northern Sinai, detained since December 26, 2007;
• Mohamed Refaat, a 22-year-old student at Cairo University, arrested on July 21, 2008, whose detention continues under Emergency Laws.  He faces accusations that include incitement of a strike;
• Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman (a.k.a. "Kareem Amer"), a 23-year-old former student at Al-Azhar University currently serving a four-year sentence for views he expressed on his blog. 

This year Egyptian authorities have arrested, detained, and prosecuted at least 20 bloggers, journalists, and activists.  Using broadly-worded laws that criminalize insulting the president or religion, or harming Egypt's reputation, and relying on Emergency Laws to justify prolonged detention, the government has clamped down on one of the most basic rights-the right to free expression. 

Please call on the Egyptian authorities to release the bloggers currently detained and stop using vague, overly-broad laws to repress free speech. 

Background

The Egyptian authorities' campaign against bloggers began in late 2005 and peaked in 2006, when a number of bloggers were arrested at a non-violent demonstration on May 7 outside a Cairo courtroom.  The demonstration had been staged in support of two judges threatened with removal from the bench for their comments on election fraud during the December 2005 parliamentary elections.   One of them was 24-year-old Alaa Ahmed Seif al-Islam who, with his wife Manal Hassan, maintained an award-winning blog.  Seif al-Islam was released on June 20, 2006, after which he made appeals on behalf of fellow bloggers remaining in detention.  One of them, Mohammed el-Sharqawi, described the torture and sexual abuse he suffered in detention in letters his lawyers smuggled out of prison. 

Recent cases

The assault on free expression continued in 2007, with the detention and sentencing of several bloggers and journalists, including the editors of four independent newspapers sentenced to a year of forced labor for publishing information said to harm the country's interest. 

Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, who is better known by his Internet pseudonym "Kareem Amer," is a 23-year-old native of Alexandria. He grew up in a religious family and attended Al-Azhar University, one of the chief centers of Islamic learning in the world. Feeling disillusioned by the university establishment and what he perceived as religious extremism espoused by the school, he began expressing his views on a blog.  When the university's administration discovered Suleiman's blog, he was expelled and his case was referred to state prosecutors.  On February 22, 2007, he was sentenced to four years in prison for contempt of religion and for insulting the President.  Both are offenses under Egypt's Penal Law, Articles 98 and 179 respectively.  Suleiman, who is currently serving the second year of his sentence, was recently visited by lawyers from the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).  According to ANHRI's lawyer, his physical condition has deteriorated significantly due to the harsh treatment he is receiving at the hands of both prison guards and other prisoners. 

Mosaad Suleiman Hassan (a.k.a. Mosaad Abu Fajr) is an activist and novelist from north Sinai, who has used his blog called "Wedna Ne`iesh," (meaning "we want to live") as a platform for discussing issues faced by Egypt's Bedouin communities.  Abu Fajr was arrested on December 26, 2007, reportedly in connection with a sit-in by members of the Bedouin community near Rafah City. 

Mohamed Refaat, a 22-year-old student at Cairo University, was arrested on July 21, 2008, after reporting to state security.  He had gone to the authorities to retrieve a personal computer seized by security officers during an early morning raid from his home while he was not present.  Among the accusations Refaat reportedly faces are that he used his blog to incite a strike on July 23.  Although on August 17, 2008, state security decided to release Refaat, another division within the agency's investigative branches has continued to detain him in Wadi Natrun prison under Egypt's Emergency Laws.

In addition to these individuals who are presently detained, the Egyptian authorities have harassed, arrested, detained, and prosecuted a number of other bloggers, journalists, and activists.

Journalists include:

• On January 28, 2008, Howaida Taha Mitwalli, a reporter for Al-Jazeera, and her cameraman were harassed and detained by policemen in Nikla, a village 20 kilometers southwest of Cairo, where they were producing a documentary on farm workers.  Mitwalli had previously been fined and sentenced to a six-month prison term for giving "false pictures" about Egypt that could "undermine" its image, in connection with an Al-Jazeera documentary about torture in Egypt. 
• On March 26, 2008, Ibrahim Eissa, editor of the independent paper Al-Dostour was fined and sentenced to a six-month prison term for publishing information "liable to harm the general interest," for penning an editorial in which he speculated on President Mubarak's Health.

Internet activists include:

• On April 5, 2008, blogger Mohammed el-Sharqawi was arrested while distributing leaflets urging Cairo residents to stay home from work on April 6, in solidarity with textile workers planning a strike in the Delta town of Mahalla.  Sharqawi was released on April 22.  He had previously been detained after a protest in 2006 and has described his torture in detail.
• On April 6, 2008, Karim el-Beheiri, a textile worker and blogger who had written in support of the strike on his blog, was arrested in the early morning hours by state security.  He was released after 73 days, during which time he was blindfolded, bound, beaten, and subjected to electric shocks. 
• On April 7, 2008, Esraa Abdel Fattah was arrested after using the social networking site Facebook to create a group calling for national strikes to express solidarity with textile workers in Mahalla.  She was released on April 24, 2008, after media pressure and an appeal by her mother to the Egyptian president and his wife. 
• On May 7, 2008, Ahmed Maher, a 27-year-old civil engineer, who used Facebook to support calls for a general strike on President Hosni Mubarak's 80th birthday, was detained, interrogated and beaten at state security headquarters.  Maher was subsequently arrested again, along with 13 other activists belonging to the "April 6 Youth." They were arrested in Alexandria on July 23, 2008, and released after approximately ten days.

Other government critics include:

• On August 2, 2008, Saad Eddin Ibrahim, 69-year-old sociologist and American University in Cairo professor was convicted, in absentia, to a two-year sentence with hard labor after an Egyptian court ruled that his writings in foreign papers had "tarnished Egypt's reputation."  Ibrahim was arrested, imprisoned and tried in 2000 for using European Union funds for election monitoring and for harming Egypt's reputation. The verdict was overturned in March 2003 and he was released.

The legal context

Article 47 of the Egyptian Constitution guarantees free expression.  However, many provisions of Egyptian law are so broad and vague that they effectively render the constitutional guarantee of free speech meaningless.  These include:

• Article 80(d) of the Penal Code, which imposes a prison sentence of up to five years on any Egyptian who "deliberately discloses abroad false or tendentious news, information, or rumors about the country's internal situation," or who "carries out any activity aimed at damaging the national interest of the country." This provision was the basis for Saad Eddin Ibrahim's most recent conviction.
• Articles 98(f) of the Penal Code imposes a fine and term of imprisonment of six months to five years for any person who "disparages or belittles any divinely revealed religion." 
• Article 102 of the Penal Code, which allows for the detention of "whoever deliberately diffuses news, information, data, or false or tendentious rumors, or propagates exciting publicity, if this is liable to disturb public security, spread horror among the people, or cause harm or damage to the public interest." 
• Article 179 of the Penal Code, which allows for the detention of "whoever affronts the President of the Republic."

The broad and vague wording of these laws invites abuse, through their overbroad application, to prosecute legitimate, non-violent expression that should be protected in law and practice. 

  
Sample letter

His Excellency President Husni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Ras Al–Teen Presidential Palace
Cairo, Egypt

Your Excellency,

I write to express my deep concern about three bloggers currently detained in your country: Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, Mosaad Abu Fajr, and Mohamed Refaat. Though the circumstances of each person's arrest differ, I believe that these individuals are fundamentally being punished for their speech.

Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, a former student at al-Azhar University, used his blog to express views critical of the university and the Egyptian president, for which he is now being punished with a four-year prison term. His physical state has deteriorated due to his mistreatment in prison.

I also write to express concern about Mosaad Abu Fajr, detained since December 26, 2007. Mr. Fajr is an activist and writer, and who has used his blog as a platform to express concern about the treatment of Egypt's Bedouin community.

Lastly, I write about the continued detention of Mohamed Refaat, a 22-year-old student and blogger whose continued detention since July 21, 2008 has been justified under Egypt's emergency laws. Despite an August decision by state security to release Mr. Refaat, another division of the agency has continued to detain him.

I understand that in the past year, a number of other activists, bloggers and journalists have also faced harassment, arrest, detention and prosecution in Egypt.

I call upon your government to adhere to international standards protecting the right of freedom of expression, which is granted not only by Article 47 of the Egyptian Constitution, but also by Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, to which Egypt became a party in 1982.

However, certain articles in the Egyptian Penal Code, such as Article 80(d) which imposes a sentence of up to five years for anyone abroad who expresses information damaging to Egypt's reputation, or Article 102 which allows for the detention of anyone who releases information that could damage the public interest, are used to silence critics of the government or journalists, whose rights and abilities to carry out their profession is seriously undermined by these laws.

Arresting journalists, bloggers, and activists does far more to tarnish Egypt's reputation abroad, and contradicts the Egyptian government's commitment to political reform and democracy.

I urge, therefore, that Abdul Kareem Nabil Suleiman, Mosaad Abu Fajr and Mohamed Refaat be released, and that the Egyptian government ensures that freedom of expression is respected by amending the provisions in question.

Thank you for your attention to these very important matters. I will continue to monitor this case closely.

C.C.
Ambassador Mr. Nabil Fahmy
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20008