Egypt: Threats against Mr. Gamal Eid

The Observatory has been informed by reliable sources about threats and acts of intimidation against Mr. Gamal Eid, Director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI).

According to the information received, on October 31, 2019, one of ANHRI lawyer’s car was violently smashed by security forces at dawn. This car had been borrowed by Mr. Gamal Eid on October 30, 2019. Mr. Gamal Eid’s neighbours reported having witnessed seven individuals carrying firearms who stopped by the car in the evening of October 30, and called somebody mentioning the car details.

The Observatory recalls that Mr. Gamal Eid was physically assaulted on October 10, 2019, and that a few weeks before, his car was stolen on main street during busy hours. The Observatory fears the above-mentioned acts constitute acts of harassment targeting Mr. Eid for his human rights activities.

The Observatory further recalls that Mr. Amr Imam, a human rights lawyer at ANHRI, remains detained Tora Al-Mazraa prison (see background information).

The Observatory emphasises that the threats against Mr. Gamal Eid and the ongoing arbitrary detention of Mr. Amr Imam take place in the context of a wide-range repression targeting several human rights defenders including blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah and his lawyer, Mohamed Al Baqer [1], women’s rights defender Asmaa Dabees [2], journalist Esraa Abdel Fattah [3] and human rights lawyer Mahienour El Massry [4]. It should be added that Msses. Esraa Abdel Fattah and Mahienour El Massry are both also being prosecuted under the same criminal case, Case 488/2019.

The Observatory expresses its utmost concern over the threats against Mr. Gamal Eid, and calls on the Egyptian authorities to carry out a transparent, impartial, immediate and thorough investigation into the above-mentioned acts in order to identify all those responsible, bring them before an independent tribunal, and sanction them as provided by the law. The Observatory also calls on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Mr. Amr Imam, as his detention seems to be only aimed at punishing him for his legitimate human rights activities, and put an end to any acts of harassment against him and all human rights defenders in Egypt.

Background information:

On October 10, 2019, Mr. Gamal Eid was beaten repeatedly with the butt of a gun by an unknown attacker who stole his cellphone, tried to steal his backpack and fired a shot in the air while fleeing the scene with an accomplice who had a motorcycle. The beatings resulted in a fractured rib and bruises for Mr. Gamal Eid. The incident happened on main street and during busy hours (between 6 and 8pm).

On October 16, 2019 at dawn, Mr. Amr Imam was abducted by police officers from his home in Cairo. While Mr. Amr Imam managed to publish a brief post about his arrest on Facebook, the security forces then refused him his right to make a phone call to his lawyer or family members. Mr. Amr Imam’s fate and whereabouts remained unknown for almost 24 hours, despite attempts to locate him. In the previous days, Mr. Amr Imam had publicly announced his intention to start a hunger strike to denounce police abuses, including multiple cases of abduction and enforced disappearances, acts of torture and ill-treatment as well as the lack of accountability from the of police officers for their crimes.

On October 17, 2019, Mr. Amr Imam appeared before State Security Prosecution and was assigned to Criminal Case 488/2019 for “collaborating with a terrorist organisation having knowledge of its goals”, “spreading false news” and “misusing one of the social networking tools”. The Prosecutor ordered a 15-day pre-trial detention against Mr. Amr Imam, who is now detained at Tora Al-Mazraa, in which family visits and access to lawyer are severely restricted [5].