Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights

The case of exporting gas at very low prices is perhaps one of the key corruption cases in modern times. It is so due to its scope and impact on the lives of millions of Egyptians, the involvement of top state officials, the wide attention by the public, and its historic and political significance. Many analysts and followers of the case maintained the impossibility that the former President Mubarak was unaware or even uninvolved in the case, if only due to the fact that the issue is a matter of “sovereignty” concerning one of our key natural resources.

When the IMF agrees to extend a loan to a country, there is a number of documents the IMF team is obligated to publish and several more the government in question must release.

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights issued an analytical report today titled “Restricted Diversity in State Religion: The Case of Religious Freedom of Shia Egyptians.” The report documents and analyzes developments of the status of Shia Egyptians as a case study o

Parliament began to debate the bill and approved 40 of its 89 articles yesterday in record time. It is scheduled to resume debate on the remaining articles on November 15. We also condemn parliament’s treatment of civil society as an enemy to be defeated through secret plots and laws.

The EIPR found substantial discrepancies between the Arabic definition of female circumcision and the definition in all other languages on the WHO website.The Arabic definition lacks an important sentence affirming that there is no medical basis for the practice.

The undersigned organizations urge Egypt to accede to the agreement and join the global climate movement. Not only is this a common responsibility of all states in order to confront climate change; it is also of direct interest to Egypt.

The undersigned organizations welcome the most recent amendments to the Penal Code to include a precise definition of the crime of female genital cutting (FGC) and extend the the statute of limitation to ten years. The organizations nevertheless stress that enforcement mechanisms remain lacking and that the amended provisions still allows doctors and medical institutions to evade punishment.

In March 2014, a first-instance court in Minya issued a preliminary decision sentencing 529 people to death. In April of the same year, the same court issued a preliminary decision sentencing 683 people to death. Preliminary death sentences are not final until approved by the Mufti of Egypt and then the criminal court finally confirms them (while it still retains discretion to change the verdict after it has been approved by the Mufti).

Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the global alliance Realizing Sexual and Reproductive Justice (RESURJ) are again calling on the Egyptian legislator to amend legal provisions on abortion to guarantee women’s access to safe abortion in cases where pregnancy constitutes a threat to the woman’s life or health or if the pregnancy is the result of rape.