Press release
Cairo: 11/9/2003

EOHR calls for Releasing Ali Abdel Fattah and his Companions

Most alarmed, the Egyptian Organization for Human Rights (EOHR) received the news of the arrest of 6 persons accused of being affiliates of the Muslim Brotherhood group on Monday, September 8, 2003. The arrested ones are: Ali Abdel Fattah, an engineer, Dr. Mohammed Gamal Hishmat, Ibrahim Ga'boub, a professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, Ibrahim Adel Salaam and Mohammed Fawzi. While assembling in the house of Dr. Hishmat - who is a former member of the People's Assembly- , a force of the State Security Investigations at Al Bihira governorate arrested them. They appeared before the State Security Prosecution which rendered them as pre-trial detainees and sentenced them for 15 days. The Prosecution accused the detainees of several charges of which is their being affiliates of the banned Muslim Brotherhood, calling for launching demonstrations, acquisition of publications disseminating the ideas and objectives of the group.

      EOHR re-affirms the need to abolish the Articles of the Penal Code which criminalize political practice even by peaceful means. Political practice is a way of exercising the right to political participation and management of the public affairs on the one hand, and the right to the freedom of opinion and expression and the right to peaceful assembly on the other hand.

     Moreover, EOHR newly expresses its alarm as to the reiteration of the arrest of members of the Muslim Brotherhood group. Such arrests turned to be almost systematic and prepared beforehand. The detainees are usually arrested and face the abovementioned charges. Then they undergo pre-trial detention which often lasts for 6 months. In most cases they are referred to exceptional courts (military courts) – an obvious threat to their right to a fair and equitable judgment.

        In this regard, EOHR still believes that the excess in pre-detention is a flagrant violation of the right to freedom and personal safety. EOHR emphasizes the necessity of abolishing the Emergency Law as it is the legal instrument manipulated to violate all the rights guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution and the international instruments concerned with human rights. Therefore, EOHR calls for releasing the said detainees

      In this connection, EOHR monitored the arrest of a huge number of students and members of the Muslim Brotherhood group over 2003: