Human Rights Defenders in Egypt

After a period of relative political openness from 2004-2005 that provided the Egyptian civil society and human rights movement with more space and freedom to conduct their activities, the situation of human rights defenders has suffered a serious setback since the spring of 2006. In May of that year, the Egyptian authorities launched a campaign of arrest and repression against Egyptian young bloggers who utilize the Internet to expose human rights violations and the widespread use of torture by the police in Egypt. The crackdown on the bloggers has been followed by a succession of repressive measures taken by the government in what appears to be a growing clampdown on the Egyptian independent human rights community. 

In May 2007, State Security agents arrested Amr Tharwat, a researcher at the Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies and the coordinator of its initiative to monitor the elections for the Shura Council (Egypt's upper house of Parliament) that took place over two rounds on June 11 and June 18, 2007. Tharwat had been detained for 130 days before he was released in October 2007. A few months later, human rights defenders Mohamed el-Derini and Ahmed Mohamed Sobh were arrested for speaking out to defend the rights of the small Shi’ite Muslim religious minority in Egypt, and for exposing and denouncing the use of torture in Egyptian prisons. Since their arrest, the two activists have been detained in solitary confinement at the Thorah prison near Cairo.

Human rights independent groups have also been targeted. In December 2006, the government shut down the Ahalina Center for Egyptian Family Support and Development, which provides legal aid and health and social services to the deprived inhabitants of the city of Shubra Al-Khayma. In April 2007, the Egyptian authorities closed down the headquarters and two branches of the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS), an independent NGO that provides legal aid to workers and monitors the situation of labor rights in Egypt. In September 2007, the government issued a decree dissolving the Association for Human Rights Legal Aid (AHRLA). The decision to close down AHRLA is based on the alleged breaching of the Associations Law (Number 84 of 2002) that prohibits NGOs from receiving funding from abroad without the prior authorization of the Ministry of Social Solidarity. The closure of AHRLA appears to be in reprisal for its activities exposing human rights violations in Egypt and providing legal assistance to victims of torture.


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