A story of broken promises: Franziska Brantner discusses recent wave of arrests in Egypt

On Tuesday, 7 May 2013 Franziska Brantner hosted a Lunch Event together with the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) and the Cairo based Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) entitled “ Civil Society Under Fire: The Recent Wave of Arrests in Egypt”. The event took place simultaneously in Brussels and Cairo, the speakers joining the Brussels audience via video-conferencing. Among the speakers were two activists currently facing trial as well as representatives of human rights organizations based in the region. Just as the international focus is shifting away from Egypt, events like this are more than needed to hear from the people on the ground. The picture the panellists were painting today is rather worrying: there is clear evidence that the space for civil society is shrinking and the judiciary is being used to silence critics. For a full report of the event click here:

Franziska Brantner started by welcoming the audience and the speakers in Brussels and Cairo and thanking the EU Delegation to Egypt and members of the German press to also be present in Cairo. She also pointed out that the event is very timely: “We have seen a new wave of judicial activity against the opposition forces in Egypt, which I think is worrying and we need to raise the awareness about this development. I believe the EU needs to be more outspoken on the current developments in Egypt. An important step is that the EU Delegation in Egypt has been monitoring some of these courts cases”.

Sandrine Grenier, the Advocacy Director of the Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) a North South network for human rights, stressed that Egypt is currently a great concern for her organization. Not only are journalists and activists facing attacks but also the NGOs themselves through a new proposed law, which would limit the political space and foreign funding available to civil society organizations. Sandrine Grenier appealed to the member states and the High Representative Lady Ashton to join the European Parliament in issuing public statements against restrictions. She also pointed out that female activists are a group especially under threat, as recent attacks on female protesters showed, which aimed to discourage women from taking part in the political process.

Mr Saeed Abdel Hafez is the Head of the Forum for Development and Human Rights Dialogue and is currently visiting Brussels with a Freedom House Delegation working against torture in the MENA region. His organization has documented more than 43 cases of torture and they have drafted an amendment for the Egyptian penal code to outlaw torture but so far this has not been taken up by the current government. Franziska Brantner pointed out that this is one of the areas of concern for the European Parliament and part of the conditions of saying yes to the EU loan should be that Egypt signs and ratifies the Optional Protocol on the Convention Against Torture and creates a national prevention mechanism.

Mrs Rawda Ahmed is the Director of the Legal Aid Unit for the Freedom of Expression, the legal arm of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), which assists in defending activists and journalists facing what are believed to be politically motivated trials. ANHRI has been working under Mubarak as well as under the SCAF and once Morsi came to power, they suggested to him the amendment of seven laws, which are in particular crippling the freedom of expression. However, so far the political will has been lacking and these laws from the previous regimes remain, despite Morsi’s promise to guarantee press freedom in his plan for his first 100 days in government. The ministry of media also continues to exist despite calls to dissolve it, ANHRI seeing it as a tool of censorship a free country should not continue to have. Morsi has broken his promise, the first six months of his presidency alone has seen 23 cases against journalists and media personalities opened on the charge of insulting the president. In addition, there continues to be no legislation pertaining to the right to information, hindering the free flow of information. One positive development ANHRI has seen is that the Egyptian people have lost their fear, they now dare to criticise the performance of the government openly.

Ahmed Abdallah is an active member of the 6 April movement, one of the movements, which were instrumental in bringing down Mubarak, and he used to be a supporter of president Morsi. Recently he was invited to a workshop of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) where he made several critical remarks. Upon his return to Egypt he was faced with renewed charges for a case previously dropped. His case and the case of two other fellow activists, Mona and Alaa Seif, has been referred to a criminal court where no appeal is possible and an infamously harsh judge has been assigned to preside over the case. The trial will start on the May 9th. Upon hearing about his case on her last visit to Egypt, Franziska Brantner sent an open letter to the President of the EBRD to inquire about the case but so far has not received a response. Ahmed Abdallah believes the reopening of the case is politically motivated since Islamist members indicated in the case have not been faced with renewed charges, only well known opposition activists. He appealed to the European audience to check where the EU support to the Egyptian government is going, whether it is helping the Egyptian people or rather a political movement oppressing its own people. Franziska Brantner pointed out that she is campaigning for when projects have been selected by the EBRD to be funded, that part of the funding is set aside to go to independent watch-dogs on the ground to follow what the funding is used for.

Mohamed Sabry is a Reuters photojournalist reporting on Sinai and a member of the movement “No Military Trials for Civilians”. He is also the first civilian to be in front of the military court since the approval of the new Egyptian constitution in December 2012 for allegedly taking pictures of a military sensitive border area while reporting on a case of land grabbing. His case is living proof of another broken promise of Morsi’s government, which promised that the new constitution would put an end to military trials of civilians. However, despite the reassurances the new constitution left a legal loophole in the form of article 103, which continues to allow the trial of civilians in front of a military court in special cases and Mohamed Sabry has become the first victim. The struggle is not yet over; the verdict continues to be postponed since January of this year. The next court date was set for today but while speaking on the panel Mr Sabry received a message that the verdict has again been postponed for another month. Leaving the accused in a legal limbo seems to be another worrying tactic to spread fear and legal insecurity. Mr Sabry pointed out the great variation in treatment independent journalists receive at the hands of the government compared to journalists working for the state media.

Heba Morayef is the Egypt Director of Human Rights Watch and has recently been suggested for the Times 100 Most Influential People list due to her continuous sharp analysis of Egypt’s human rights situation. She urged the audience to see the state of human rights in Egypt as a key to understanding the political situation Egypt is currently in. The recent high profile case of the Egyptian “Daily Show” host Bassem Yousef being charged for insulting the president and Islam helped to shine light on the cases of less well known individuals facing similar charges. She reproaches President Morsi and his government for having the power to change existing laws still hailing from the 1960s to prevent such prosecution in future, but not doing it but instead continuing to use these repressive laws in ways already previous regimes have used them to silence critics. Strong signals from the EU are now urgently needed. Key areas the EU should hold the Egyptian government accountable for in the field of the Rule of Law are the arbitrary arrests, continuing reports of torture, the use of live ammunition during protests and the impunity for sectarian violence and for gender based violence. In addition President Morsi should publish the finding of the Committee of Inquiry he launched to investigate the violence against protesters during the revolution at the hands of the military and the police in order to ensure the end of impunity. The attempt to limit the political space and the space for civil society is worrying and the EU should follow these developments closely and stay engaged. She suggested that it would now be timely for the EU Special Representative for Human Rights to re-visit Egypt to check on the assurance he was given from the government during his last visit in November last year.

Franziska Brantner pointed out that she is working for establishing a cross-party coalition to set up clear conditions before the European Parliament will agree to the planed 500 million Euros loan, which is planed to follow once the IMF loan to Egypt has been agreed. The European Parliament has veto power over the EU loan.

A representative from Freedom House pointed out that Egypt is in this year’s Freedom of Press in the World Report the big disappointment sliding back in the ranking from “impartially free” to “unfree”. The speakers mentioned as a particularly worrying case the five-year prison sentence issued on 2 May 2013 against Amr Abdulzaher, Amr Emad El-Deen, Mohamed Ahmed, Mohamed Farahat and Abdullah Ahmed. The express trial against five university student protesting the arrest of alleged members of the Black Block lasted only two days. As Rawda Ahmed from the ANHRI put it in her closing statement: “We were dreaming that after the revolution we would work hand in hand with the elected government to build a new country but now we are all being dragged into a dark tunnel without knowing what is waiting for us at the end of the tunnel. We need the EU to watch the developments closely”.