Hollywood is mobilizing. Famous stars and writers have called on Egyptian authorities to release activist Sanaa Seif and other political prisoners in an open letter published on Tuesday. Sanaa Seif, 26, was arrested and taken in an unmarked van at the end of June. She is accused, according to her lawyers, of "spreading false information", "inciting terrorist crimes" and "misuse of social media".
Currently in pre-trial detention, the activist, a film editor, has notably worked on the documentary film The Square , nominated for an Oscar in 2013, and the film The last days of a city .
More than 200 signatories
“Together, we call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release Sanaa (…) and all those detained for having peacefully exercised their rights,” wrote more than 200 signatories of the letter. Among them are the actors Danny Glover, Juliette Binoche and Thandie Newton, the writer Arundhati Roy, the intellectual Noam Chomsky, the Nobel Prize for Literature JM Coetzee or the plastic artist Anish Kapoor. Amnesty International and other human rights NGOs also signed the letter.
The detention of "Sana'a is the latest in a series of endless arrests which now characterize the regime of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi", they added.
"End the abuses of pre-trial detention"
At the time of her arrest, the activist was with her mother and sister in front of the Tora prison in Cairo, where her brother, engineer and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, a central figure in the 2011 popular uprising that ousted her, is being held. ex-President Hosni Mubarak in power. Alaa Abdel Fattah had been imprisoned in a large net after rare demonstrations against the power Sisi in September 2019. Several thousand people were arrested then, an unknown number released since.
"Tens of thousands of political detentions have been documented by human rights organizations (...) meanwhile, courts and prosecutors have extended the pre-trial detention of detainees without them being present in court," the letter continued. . “We call on the Egyptian government to end the abuse of pretrial detention. "
In Egypt, pre-trial detention can by law be extended for up to two years. Since coming to power in 2013, Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has led a merciless repression against any opposition. Intellectuals and artists are particularly targeted.
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