The undersigned organizations renew their call for the Egyptian authorities to stop these trials, including the human trafficking case against Hossam and al-Adham, and release the defendants who continue to be held in pretrial detention been sentenced to imprisonment in connection with these cases. In addition to guaranteeing freedom of expression, including on the internet, and to stop employing the Law's vague provisions on Combating Information Technology Crimes to infringe on digital rights.
Files: Digital freedom
The five groups called on all civil society organizations, political parties, unions, individuals, and Egyptian communities abroad and regional and international bodies to endorse these seven steps as minimum requirements to begin restoring the dignity and rights of all Egyptians.
The motion follows a petition launched on the anniversary of Patrick’s arrest this year and signed by more than 200,000 Italian citizens calling on the Italian government to grant Patrick Italian citizenship. Since Zaki’s arrest in February 2020, more than 50 Italian cities and counties have granted him their honorary citizenship in appreciation for his work defending human rights and highlighting his unjust imprisonment, with the campaign titled “100 Cities for Patrick”.
EIPR hopes that the prosecution’s decision not to proceed with the referral of Menna Abdel Aziz to trial is a precedent that will be generalized to the rest of sexual violence cases, through the prosecution’s use of its inherent right to suspend investigations or counter-reports that the victim of sexual violence may face once they report the incidents of abuse.
EIPR also warns of the danger of using Article 27 of the Law to Combat Electronic Crimes issued in 2018 to target the same spectrum of non-traditional ideas and trends, under the pretext of “misuse of social media.” Last June as well.
EIPR had previously and repeatedly warned that the precedent of accusations being brought against a victim and survivor of rape and kidnapping sends a clear message to women and girls that reporting sexual assaults they are subjected to, may end up in them being charged as accused and lead them to prison, hindering any community efforts seeking to support women and girls in their quest to recover from the aftermath of sexual violence crimes that they may be exposed to.
what happened between 20 September and late October 2019 was an unprecedented development as far as police practice in Egypt and in terms of the magnitude of violation of citizens’ privacy. It seems to have been occasioned by the temporary spread of the videos and live feeds of contractor and actor Mohammed Ali before the demonstrations of 20 September.
The case was filed in 2013 following the Edward Snowden leaks, which revealed the scale of communications surveillance by British and US intelligence practiced through the direct interception or tapping into global communication infrastructure.
The court sentenced Alaa Abd al-Fattah and Ahmed Abd al-Rahman to five years in prison, a fine of LE100,000 each, and five years of police probation upon release.
On 17 June 2014, a number of human rights groups and concerned citizens filed lawsuit number 63055/68 in the Administrative Court asking to stop a Ministry of Interior’s tender to procure software capable of monitoring the public posts and private