CAIRO -
While the Egyptian authorities released prominent dissident Yahya Hussein Abdel Hadi under a presidential amnesty, Amnesty International said the fate of thousands of arbitrarily detained should not be in the hands of the security services, calling for the immediate and unconditional release of anyone detained solely for exercising their rights. humanity.
Today, Tuesday, activists and tweeters circulated pictures of Yahya Hussein Abdel Hadi in front of the prison gate after his release.
The amnesty decision comes after a court sentenced (last week) Abdul Hadi to 4 years in prison;
He was accused of deliberately spreading false news inside and outside the country.
Respected and innocent engineer
Yahya Hussein Abdel Hadi regains his freedom
after an unjust and unjust arrest that lasted three and a half years!!# Urgent #Egypt pic.twitter.com/NbTqduZ9ah
— Haytham Abokhalil Haitham Abu Khalil (@haythamabokhal1) June 1, 2022
Fight against corruption
On May 23, the Presidential Pardon Committee issued a statement following the sentencing of Abdel Hadi, revealing that it had communicated with the presidency to implement the president's constitutional powers to pardon him, and received a response to discuss his inclusion in the pardon list.
Yahya Hussein Abdel Hadi is the general coordinator of the civil movement (opposition / mostly left and liberals), known for his campaigns against corruption during the era of former President Hosni Mubarak.
The website Cairo 24 stated that a member of the presidential pardon committee visited Abdel Hadi in his prison a few days ago, informed him of his release, and invited him to participate in the national dialogue (the presidency invited him in late April).
Since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi launched a national dialogue last April, and reactivated the work of the presidential pardon committee that was formed in late 2016, judicial and presidential decisions have been issued releasing and pardoning imprisoned politicians and activists.
Prior to the dialogue, the judicial authorities released a number of activists, followed by a presidential pardon for activist Hossam Mounes, and then the past few days witnessed the release of other opponents, including Sharif Al-Ruby, Mohamed Mohieldin and Ayman Abdel Moati.
Recently, the Presidential Amnesty Committee announced that it had submitted a list of more than a thousand political prisoners to the security services for review, while lawyer Tariq Al-Awadi, one of the committee's members, announced today that there will be a new batch of releases tomorrow morning, Thursday.
God willing: Tomorrow, Thursday morning, ten in the morning, a number of detainees will be released from custody, and we will provide you with the details
— Lawyer Tarek Al-Awady (@tarekelawady2) June 1, 2022
Amnesty International
In a related context, Amnesty International said that the fate of thousands of men and women arbitrarily detained should not be in the hands of the Egyptian security services, specifically the National Security Sector (formerly State Security) and the General Intelligence.
“We welcome the long-awaited release of those detained solely for exercising their human rights, however, thousands of dissidents and critics remain in Egyptian prisons, while arrests and trials continue,” said Amna El Galali, Deputy Middle East and North Africa Director at Amnesty International. relentlessly new.
Two days ago, an Egyptian court sentenced to 15 years in prison the head of the Strong Egypt Party and former presidential candidate Abdel-Monehem Aboul Fotouh, and a number of leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood on charges of spreading false news.
In a statement on Tuesday, Amnesty International said that previous promises to release political prisoners were nothing more than deceptive attempts to deflect international criticism of Egypt's appalling human rights record, according to the statement's description.
The international organization added that the Egyptian authorities must demonstrate commitment to these promises by immediately and unconditionally releasing anyone detained solely for exercising their human rights, including politicians, journalists, lawyers and human rights defenders.
It called on the Egyptian authorities to adopt a human rights-based approach and put an end to the mass arbitrary arrests, in line with their obligations under international human rights law and the demands of independent Egyptian human rights groups.
#Egypt: The Egyptian authorities should immediately instruct security forces and the Public Prosecution Office to stop arbitrarily arresting critics, release all arbitrarily detained detainees in Egypt, regardless of their political affiliations, and end the crackdown on peaceful dissent https://t.co/eVVUzItXGP
— Amnesty International (@AmnestyAR) June 1, 2022
Refusal of discrimination and exception
On May 5, after the reactivation of the presidential pardon commission, eight Egyptian human rights NGOs called on the Egyptian authorities to clarify the criteria and timeline used to review prisoners' files.
Rights groups have expressed concern that prisoners of conscience and other political detainees may be excluded on discriminatory grounds, with security services controlling the decision-making process for their release.
Amnesty International quoted several members of the Amnesty Committee that they would not consider releasing the detained Muslim Brotherhood members.
It also quoted several families - who submitted requests to the committee to review the detention of their loved ones - that two members of the committee requested to see evidence that the detainees did not belong to the Muslim Brotherhood.
The organization considered this exclusion a matter of grave concern, given that thousands of individuals were held in prolonged pretrial detention in Egypt after baseless accusations of joining a “terrorist” group, and thousands of others were imprisoned on charges of violence after grossly unfair mass trials before emergency courts or courts. military.
Amnesty International stressed that the security forces - including the National Security Sector - were not given any authority over the release process, because they prevented on several occasions the release of prisoners held for political reasons, and targeted individuals belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood, and other prominent activists who had a prominent role in The revolution of January 25, 2011, with particularly punitive and discriminatory treatment in prison.
She stated that the National Security Sector warned many of those released last April not to engage in any activity, or else they would be re-arrested.
On April 26, 2022, during an iftar dinner attended by some opposition figures, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi called for the reactivation of the presidential pardon committee, and also called for the launch of a national dialogue on state policies.
While several political forces welcomed the call for dialogue, others expressed reservations about it, stressing that the first step is the release of detainees, a step that does not require dialogue or discussion.
Over the past few years, human rights organizations have reported that the number of political prisoners in Egypt has reached about 60,000, but Sisi has consistently denied this.