Egypt – UN Experts & Women Human Rights Defenders Call for End of Crackdown on Women Rights Defenders Individuals & Programs
Author: WUNRN
Date: December 29, 2016
Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights – http://www.ohchr.org/EN/NewsEvents/Pages/DisplayNews.aspx?NewsID=21039&LangID=E
Egypt – UN Experts Condemn Egypt Clampdown on the Women’s Rights Movement
GENEVA (15 December 2016) – A group of United Nations experts* has strongly condemned Egypt for escalating its action against women human rights defenders and women rights groups as part of a continuing clampdown on civil society.
“The Government’s actions are preventing women human rights defenders from conducting their legitimate activities and professions, and are leaving thousands of women in need of support and security,” the experts said. “The noose is tightening around the women’s rights movement, and this is having a direct and considerable impact on human rights.”
The experts highlighted the arrest of lawyer Azza Soliman, a prominent human rights defender who founded the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance (CEWLA). She was detained on 7 December and questioned by an investigative judge over the highly controversial case 173/2011, which centers on foreign funding of non-governmental organizations in Egypt.
“The arrest and investigation of Azza Soliman demonstrates that the repression of Egypt’s human rights movement has escalated to a higher level,” the experts said with concern. “Ms. Soliman is a central figure in the country’s independent women’s rights movement. Targeting her sends a strong negative signal from the Government about its hostile position towards women’s rights defenders.”
“The Government must immediately repeal all repressive measures against human rights defenders, including travel bans and legislation that criminalizes legitimate activities, as they are not in compliance with Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law,” they added.
Despite being freed on bail, Ms. Soliman still faces charges of having received foreign funding that may “harm the state interest”, having established an entity that conducts activities similar to that of associations’ activities and tax evasion.
The group of experts stressed that the action against Ms. Soliman was not an isolated case.
“We are highly concerned that other human rights defenders have been charged with similar offences in recent months,” they noted. “Hundreds of other human rights defenders are living under the threat of persecution and imprisonment. Many are being prevented from travelling and are seeing their assets or those of their organisations frozen.”
The experts highlighted that during a court session on 12 December concerning the decision to freeze Azza Soliman’s assets and those of her law firm, a request was made to take similar action against several other human rights defenders. These included another woman human rights defender, Mozn Hassan – who is already subject to a travel ban – and her organization Nazra for Feminist Studies.
On 14 December, the North Cairo Court confirmed the decision to freeze Azza Soliman’s assets and those of her law firm, while it postponed the verdict issuance for the asset freeze of Mozn Hassan and her organization to 11 January 2017.
“The continuous persecution of women human rights defenders such as Azza Soliman and Mozn Hassan through the investigation of case 173/2011 establishes and reinforces a pattern of systematic repression of the Egyptian women’s rights movement, aiming to silence and intimidate those working tirelessly for justice, human rights and equality,” the experts said.
(*) The experts: Ms. Alda Facio, Chair-Rapporteur of the Working Group on the issue of discrimination against women in law and in practice; Mr. Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Mr. David Kaye, Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression; Mr. Maina Kiai, Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association; and Ms. Dubravka Šimonović, Special Rapporteur on violence against women, its causes and consequences.
Special Rapporteur and Working Groups are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures’ experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.
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Egypt: Stop Harassment of Women Human Rights Defenders & Drop Politically-Motivated Case 173 ON NGO’S & FOREIGN FUNDING
December 14, 2016 – The Women Human Rights Defenders International Coalition is extremely concerned about the escalation of crackdown on Egyptian Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRDs) and NGOs. The Egyptian government has been using a politically motivated case, 173 of the year 2011 known as the NGO Foreign Funding Case, to carry out systematic crackdowns against NGOs and human rights defenders.
The latest development in this case occurred on December 7, 2016, when Azza Soliman, a prominent women’s rights defender and lawyer was arrested on the order of an investigative judge in Case 173. Police forces arrived at her house in the morning of December 7, arrested her and took her to a police station and then to the office of the investigative judge, where she was questioned. She was faced with three preliminary charges, including “receiving foreign funding to harm the state’s interests.” Under Egypt’s penal code, this could be sentenced with up to life imprisonment and a fine of 500,000 Egyptian pounds. She was released on bail after she paid 20,000 Egyptian pounds, pending further court hearings.
On December 14, a court hearing is expected to decide on the freezing of Azza Soliman’s personal and organizational bank accounts (her private law firm). It should be noted that Soliman has not been officially informed of the pending court hearing, and only learned about it through the media. Prior to this development, Azza Soliman was informed by her bank that her accounts had been frozen. Despite her insistence, no official document has been provided to explain the reason for the freezing of her assets. The bank has however referred to a November 17 verdict by the Cairo Criminal Court to freeze her assets on order of one of the judges in Case 173. The verdict however has not been presented to Azza Soliman or anyone from her law firm. On November 19, while at the airport and attempting to go to Jordan to attend a women’s rights meeting, Azza Soliman was informed that she had been banned from travel.
Azza Soliman’s case is only one example of the pressures the Egyptian government has exerted on Egyptian women human rights defenders. Mozn Hassan, a prominent WHRD and Executive Director of Nazra for Feminist Studies was barred from travel on June 27, 2016. Hassan and her organization Nazra Feminist Studies are also facing charges in the NGOs Foreign Funding Case, case 173 of 2011. The hearing scheduled for December 14, will also look into and rule on the freezing of assets of Mozn Hassan and Nazra for Feminist Studies. As further testament to the targeting of WHRDs by the Egyptian security apparatus, Aida Seif El Dawla, the co-founder of the El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and a leading Egyptian WHRD was barred from travel on November 23, 2016.
The WHRDIC expresses its deep concern about the Egyptian government’s efforts to harass WHRDs and prevent them from carrying out their legitimate activities within their respective civil society organizations. This concern is especially heightened given that President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi is due to sign a highly restrictive and regressive new law on associations, which would give the government and security apparatus extraordinary powers over non-governmental organizations.
The WHRDIC calls on the Egyptian authorities to stop its harassment of Azza Soliman and drop all charges against her and other WHRDs, such as Aida Seif El Dawla and Mozn Hassan.
Further the WHRDIC urges the Egyptian authorities to close the politically motivated Case 173 of 2011 and end the harassment and intimidation of women human rights defenders, including through arbitrary arrests, interrogations, travel bans and asset freeze and closure of their organizations.
The WHRDIC while expressing genuine concern about the new NGO bill, which contradicts the Egyptian constitution of 2014, calls on President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi to reject the bill and respect the rights of citizens to organize in civil groups in line with their internationally recognized right to freedom of association.
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