The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) condemns the violent assault, arrest and prosecution of at least 16 human rights activists participating in a peaceful protest in Cairo on 23 April 2024, and calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately drop the spurious charges against them.
That day protesters were assembled in front of the UN Women Regional Office for the Arab States in Cairo, in solidarity with women in Gaza and Sudan. Clashes with the police started when police officers confiscated one of the protester’s mobile phone, arrested a journalist and then violently assaulted several participants.
At least 19 people, some of whom were simply passers-by not participating in the protest, were arrested, including five journalists: Iman Auf, Rasha Azab, Hadeer Al Mahdawi, Youssef Shaaban and Mohamed Faraj, and three women lawyers: Ragia Omran, a former member of the Egyptian National Council for Human Rights, Mahienour El-Masry, whom the Egyptian authorities have repeatedly targeted for her human rights work, and Asmaa Naeem, a lawyer and human rights defender. Lubna Darwish, director of the women’s rights program at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was also arrested.
“Once again, the Egyptian authorities are criminalizing the right to protest and cracking down on peaceful human rights activists solely for their legitimate and peaceful exercise of this rights,” said Said Benarbia, ICJ MENA Program Director. “The authorities must immediately dismiss the case against those arrested and drop the spurious charges against them”.
According to information available to the ICJ, on 24 April 2024, three of those arrested the previous day at the protest were released without charge, while 16 others, including the journalists, lawyers and human rights activists named above, were brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecutor’s Office (SSSP) for investigation in case No. 1567 of 2024, and were charged with “joining a ‘terrorist’ group,” pursuant to article 12 of Law No. 94 of 2015 on “counter-terrorism”, and with “with gathering with the aim of endangering the general peace or the purpose of committing a crime,” pursuant to Law No. 10 of 1914 on “gatherings”. They were all released on conditional bail on the same day, with sureties of up to EGP 10,000 (about USD 209) per person.
Since the start of the ongoing war in Gaza, dozens of peaceful human rights activists and protesters have been arrested in Egypt while taking part in demonstrations expressing solidarity with Palestinians, especially in light of the plight of those living in Gaza. Earlier this month, several human rights activists who had joined a protest outside the headquarters of the Journalists’ Syndicate in Cairo were arrested and subsequently released a few days later.
These practices run counter to Egypt’s obligations under international human rights law, including the duty to respect, protect and fulfill the rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly.
The ICJ calls on the Egyptian authorities to lift the unlawful restrictions on public gatherings, and to release and drop all charges against those arbitrarily arrested and detained solely for participating in peaceful protests.