Egypt: the three officials of a human rights NGO kept in detention
Nasser Amin, lawyer and member of the defense team representing Gasser Abdel Razek, the executive director of the EIPR arrested, during an interview with Reuters in Cairo, November 23, 2020. REUTERS - STAFF
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3 min
Since November 13, three officials of the Egyptian Initiative for the Promotion of Personal Rights (EIPR) have been detained by the Egyptian authorities.
On Monday, Gasser Abdel Razek, the executive director of the NGO, was the only one to be heard by the prosecutor of the National Security Court.
His relatives were hoping for release, but he will remain in detention at least until his next hearing.
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With our correspondent in Cairo,
Édouard Dropsy
At the end of the afternoon, faces were tense in the shopping center where the fifty or so activists and colleagues of Gasser Abdel Razek were waiting.
After six hours of waiting, Negad El Robai, his lawyer came back with bad news: “
He seems to be tired and he seems to be cold!
He says that
: “I'm cold.
It's too cold and they don't give me clothes.
"
I think we'll have to wait before we talk about his release.
"
Arrested on November 19, Gasser Abdel Razek is being prosecuted along with two other colleagues for "spreading false news", "undermining state security" and "belonging to a terrorist organization".
And this after a meeting held with Western ambassadors and diplomats earlier this month.
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To read also: Egypt: France "concerned" by the arrest of a human rights activist
For Mohamed Lotfi, the director of
ECRF
, another human rights NGO, the message is twofold: "
It is a message to
Egyptian NGOs
which have relations with foreign countries, whether they are diplomats, journalists, researchers, etc. But it is also a message to the diplomats themselves to tell them
"Do not think that the government accepts this kind of meeting or that partner countries talk about human rights in Egypt ". "
Gasser Abdel Razek and his colleagues will still have to wait several days or weeks before knowing whether they can be released.
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Egypt
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