Concern over the fate of Rami Shaath, activist imprisoned in Egypt

Text by: Nicolas Falez Follow

Faced with the Covid-19 pandemic, calls are multiplying all over the world to demand the release of political prisoners sometimes imprisoned in conditions that expose them to contamination. Example, in Egypt, where political activist Rami Shaath has been in pretrial detention for 10 months. His conditions of detention have hardened and his judicial horizon has darkened.

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A few days ago, the name of Rami Shaath was added to a list of people considered to be "terrorist" by the Egyptian authorities. At the beginning of March, the visits granted to his family living in Egypt were brutally interrupted. No more news from the detainee as the threat of the Covid-19 hangs over the overcrowded Egyptian prisons.

What worries Céline, the French wife of Rami Shaath. "  My husband is therefore detained in a cell of about 25m² with 18 other people, so you understand that it is impossible to practice social distancing, " she explains. The conditions of sanitary detention are really deplorable. Today, we have no information in fact about what is going on inside because the visits have been suspended. It means silence. Today, I don't know how my husband is. He might as well be sick that I wouldn't know. And the reverse is the same, since we too are exposed to risk outside and that is what is terrible.  "

► Read also: Coronavirus: Egypt is not confined but prohibits visits to prisons

Céline Lebrun-Shaath herself was expelled from Egypt last July when her husband was arrested. Since then, she has never been able to visit him or speak to him on the phone.

In addition to Rami Shaath , twelve other people have been placed in recent days on the list of individuals considered to be "terrorists" and in particular former deputy Zyad al-Elaimy, figure of the 2011 revolution, like Rami Shaath.

The International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), the World Organization against Torture (OMCT) and the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) denounce this decision and condemn "  the use by the authorities of the fight against terrorism to silence peaceful activists  ”.

► Read also: Egypt: repression, arbitrary arrests and detentions, according to Amnesty

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• Egypt
• Human rights
• France
• Coronavirus

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