He refused to leave prison to attend his mother's funeral and tried to commit suicide.. Who is Muhammad Oxygen?

CAIRO -

Egyptian activists expressed their concern over the detained Egyptian blogger Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan, known as "Oxygen", who refused to leave prison to attend the funeral of his mother, who died last Friday, despite the intense pressure exerted by activists and pioneers of social networking sites, which culminated in the approval of the security authorities on let him.

Nabih Al-Janadi, Oxygen's lawyer, said that the latter refused to leave his prison to participate in the condolences of his mother, who passed away while he was in prison, noting that what he did proves the extent of the desperation he has reached.

Al-Janadi added in a blog post published the day before yesterday, Saturday, "If we go back for how many months, we will find that Muhammad refused to interrogate him at the State Security Prosecution, and recently Muhammad tried to commit suicide, and the prison administration followed him at the last moment."

circle of misery

Activists and pioneers of social networking sites expressed their sympathy with the Egyptian blogger and the state of sadness he is going through, warning of its danger to him.

Nima Hisham - who is the wife of human rights lawyer Muhammad Al-Baqer, who is imprisoned in the same case - said that "Oxygen" has been denied his right to receive visits from his family and relatives for more than two years, and that he tried to commit suicide several months ago, and Al-Baqir and the rest of his cellmates rescued him.

Al-Baqer’s wife said that she hopes that her husband will succeed in supporting “Oxygen” after his mother’s death, and will play with him the same role that Alaa Abdel-Fattah played with Al-Baqer when he learned of the news of his father’s death while he was in prison more than two years ago, and before him Alaa Abdel-Fattah’s knowledge of the news of his father’s death He is in prison, describing it as "an endless cycle of misery".

I fully understand #Muhammad_Oxygen's refusal to go out to bid farewell to his mother, after her death, to her son, who was deprived of his visit for two years in violation of the constitution, law, prison regulations and all human norms

. He did not commit a crime.

https://t.co/V3nBTJFMN6

— Bahey eldin Hassan (@BaheyHassan) February 12, 2022

May God burn the heart of all those who burned the heart of Muhammad Oxygen and all those who are like him in the prisons of Egypt, O Lord, I rip their hearts for the dearest they have # Save_Mohammed_Oxygen pic.twitter.com/KE6fFTag7S

— abdelmoneim Mahmoud Abdel Moneim Mahmoud (@moneimpress) February 12, 2022

Muhammad Oxygen does not want to give the jailer the honor of false humanity, so he refused to go out to say goodbye to his mother

— sam ziada (@samziada) February 12, 2022

Muhammad oxygen refused to go out bury his mother!

No one feels the inside!

One of them arrived. He can't stand it until he comes out to bury his mother, who would have seen her for the first time in years when she was dead!

May God avenge you, Lord.

pic.twitter.com/9mku3HsK4E

— Abdelrahman ElGendy (@El_Gendy_95) February 12, 2022

Who is Oxygen?

Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan, an Egyptian young man who participated in the January 2011 revolution, loved the media and decided to be an independent journalist. He created a blog and a YouTube channel entitled "Oxygen Egypt", and its motto is "We bring the truth to you, and we seek to prove abstract facts because this is what it requires." word integrity."

With the spread of the videos that he filmed, Mohamed gained wide fame and was known as “Mohamed Oxygen.” He expanded his journalistic work and hired colleagues and began conducting dialogues with citizens in the Egyptian streets, which were characterized by freedom and extreme boldness, which garnered millions of views.

Although Oxygen channel did not align itself with a specific trend, as it was publishing clips of supporters of the current President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and his attackers alike, this matter was not - apparently - satisfactory to the Egyptian authorities, who arrested him in the wake of the Egyptian presidential elections that took place in 2018.

years of pretrial detention

According to the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, blogger Mohamed "Oxygen" was arrested on April 6, 2018, and was investigated in Case No. 621 of 2018 on charges of joining a terrorist group and publishing false news and statements. He remained in pretrial detention until his release. Decision of the Criminal Court at the session of July 22, 2019 replacing pretrial detention with a precautionary measure.

However, the authorities issued a decision to arrest him again from inside the Basateen Police Station in September 2019 while he was serving the precautionary measure scheduled for him, and he remained in enforced disappearance until he appeared on October 8, 2019 inside the Supreme State Security Prosecution, and he was included in Case No. 1356 of 2019, and the same accusations were brought against him, to start a new phase of pretrial detention that lasted for 14 months, until a decision was issued by the Criminal Court on November 3, 2020 to replace pretrial detention with a precautionary measure.

The security services did not respect the decision to release “Oxygen” and detained him outside the law, to be presented again imprisoned in a new case No. 855 of 2020, and the case included activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah and human rights lawyer Muhammad Al-Baqer, and they were accused of publishing false news and statements that would harm the country. .

final judgment

Last December, an Egyptian court sentenced Alaa Abdel-Fattah to five years in prison and a fine of 200,000 Egyptian pounds ($12,700), and four years in prison each to Oxygen and lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer.

The ruling on "Oxygen" and his companions sparked international outrage, and the US State Department expressed its disappointment at the prison sentences issued by the Egyptian judiciary against Alaa and his companions, and Human Rights Watch called for an end to these unfair trials.

Germany also called - through a statement to its embassy in Cairo - the Egyptian authorities to release the three activists, and said that "lawyers may not be punished for practicing their professional activity, and that freedom of expression is the basis of social peace."

The emergency court in #Egypt is looking into the injustice by sentencing blogger and activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah to 5 years in prison, and lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer and blogger Mohamed “Oxygen” to 4 years in prison.

Sisi @AlsisiOfficial should release them immediately!

https://t.co/FsFcgvfl5U pic.twitter.com/iU8kG0SLpF

— Human Rights Watch (@hrw_ar) December 20, 2021

#Egypt |

Lifting the state of emergency is not enough.

The authorities should immediately and unconditionally release those who face trial in emergency courts solely for the peaceful exercise of their human rights.

https://t.co/nyZkFRYYMq

— Amnesty International (@AmnestyAR) November 1, 2021