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Amnesty Calls for Help After Egypt Rights Activists Arrested

Egyptian authorities arrested three human rights activists in apparent retaliation for a meeting with senior Western diplomats, writes Tom Allinson for Deutsche Welle. Gasser Abdel Razek, the director of one of Egypt's most prominent civil rights bodies, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) and Mohamed Basheer, the administration manager of the organization, have been detained. The EIPR says security forces questioned Basheer on the group's work and a meeting it held with 13 mainly European diplomats on November 3, where members discussed human rights in Egypt. Authorities also arrested Karim Ennarah, the director of criminal justice at the EIPR. The arrests come against the backdrop of a sustained crackdown on all forms of dissent and criticism of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's government. Experts say that years of European and United States tolerance of rights abuses while maintaining trade and military relations with Egypt, have produced a situation where Egypt expects little real pushback. Egypt is also anticipating a changing of the guard in the U.S, an analyst says, after U.S. President-elect Joe Biden promised "no more blank cheques for Trump's 'favourite dictator'".

Egypt: International Community Must Step in to Halt the Crackdown On Human Rights, Says Amnesty

AI London, 6 December 2020

Amnesty International today issued an urgent call to the international community to step in and halt the real threat to the Egyptian human right movement, following the court… Read more »
Egypt: Activists Arrested After Meeting Foreign Diplomats

DW, 20 November 2020

Egypt's police stepped up an "unprecedented escalation" on activists by arresting a leading rights group director. Advocates have long weathered a crackdown — what's new is… Read more »
Egypt: NGO Director Abdel-Razek Subjected to Cruel Treatment in Jail

AI London, 24 November 2020

EIPR Director held in cold cell in solitary, denied warm clothing and exercise, and had head shaved Read more »
Egypt: Authorities Must Release Activists Detained in 'Unprecedented' Crackdown

AI London, 20 November 2020

Three members of respected Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights group arrested in space of five days Arrests appear to be reprisal for their meeting with Western diplomats Call… Read more »
Egypt: Foreign Ministry Rejects Attempts to Preempt Outcome of Investigations

Egypt Online, 21 November 2020

Spokesman for the Foreign Ministry Ahmed Hafez denounced Saturday attempts to interfere with the ongoing public prosecution investigations with Egyptian citizens. Read more »
Egypt: Note On Egypt-Detention of Human Rights Defenders

OHCHR, 20 November 2020

The arrest of three human rights defenders in Egypt this week is a very worrying development that underscores the extreme vulnerability of civil society activists in the country. Read more »
Egypt: Egypt Rejects French Interference in Egypt's Internal Affairs

Egypt Online, 19 November 2020

Egypt categorically rejects a statement released by the French Foreign Ministry on the arrest of the administrative manager of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights group,… Read more »
Egypt: Egyptian Judiciary in Service of Repression

HRW, 23 November 2020

Authorities Ignore Release Orders, Set a Revolving Door of Pretrial Detention Read more »
Egypt: Leading Rights Group Official Arrested

HRW, 16 November 2020

Midnight Home Raid Follows Organization's Meeting with Ambassadors Read more »
Egypt: Egypt - Statement By the Spokesperson On Recent Arrests of Human Rights Activists

PR Newswire, 21 November 2020

The Director and several senior managers of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) have been arrested in Cairo over the last few days. These developments are of… Read more »