Egypt: Detained for protesting against dictatorship in 2019, Egyptian journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah still remains behind bars
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Egypt: Detained for protesting against dictatorship in 2019, Egyptian journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah still remains behind bars
July 3, 2020, Cairo, Egypt -- Journalist, political activist, and human rights defender Esraa Abdel Fatah was arrested on October 13, 2019. Security officers in plainclothes arrested her while she was driving in the Dokki area of Giza, west of Cairo. Esraa was taken into custody in a series of arrests targeting human rights defenders, journalists, and activists after they took to the streets against el-Sisi’s regime and his luxurious lifestyle.
The Coalition For Women In Journalism is concerned about the safety and security of Esraa while she remains imprisoned. We demand the Egyptian government to release her immediately. As a citizen of Egypt - where the majority of its people are living in poverty, it is Esraa’s right to protest against the dictatorial regime’s extravagant ways.
In October last year, security officers had taken Esraa to an undisclosed location where they subjected her to physical assault and demanded that she share her cell phone’s password. Esraa gave in to their unjust demands to save her life. However, the journalist resorted to a hunger strike to peacefully protest the episode. Esraa demanded the prosecutor's office to investigate the torture inflicted on her but to no avail. She is now in pretrial detention under an unfair judicial system that only serves the dictator.
This year on March 9, the general prosecutor renewed her pre-trial detention for 45 days and has not had access to her lawyers or family members ever since. Authorities have deemed the Covid-19 outbreak as the reason to revoke Esraa’s access to her family and lawyers since mid-March.
CFWIJ spoke to Esraa’s sister for commentary on the unjustified actions against her sister:
“It has been 105 days since we heard anything from her. Even the letters she wrote every two weeks have now stopped coming. Whenever I ask her about her condition while in detention via letters, especially during the Covid-19 breakout, Esraa ignores these questions. This led me to assume that she is prohibited from talking about the conditions inside the jail,” she said.
Her lawyer Ahmed Ragheb informed us that neither he nor Esraa’s family were able to see or contact her in the last 105 days. Her pre-trial detention got renewed despite her absence since March 9. They have no information about the novel coronavirus precautions inside her cell. The lawyer then submitted a legal notice to the general prosecutor to nullify her arbitrary detention.
Nazra, an organization for feminist studies, together with other organizations recently launched a campaign on social media demanding Egyptian authorities to at least allow Esraa to call her family, but no response has been received from the state so far.
This is not the first time that Esraa has been targeted for her journalism and pro-human rights actions. Authorities in Egypt have victimized her several times for her work and activism.
An investigative judge summoned Esraa to interrogate her in relation to a “foreign funding case” on October 4, 2018. This case, which started in December 2011, included more than 200 organizations and human rights defenders and continues till date. Human rights defenders and journalists involved in this case face charges of “using foreign funding to foment unrest”.
When Esraa was boarding a flight to Germany on January 13, 2015, police officers at the Cairo International Airport barred her from traveling and shared a judicial travel ban memo against her. Esraa did not receive a prior notification about the travel ban. Her lawyers submitted a legal notice to lift the ban and requested an explanation on the legal grounds of it.
Her lawyer Ahmed Ragheb filed a case to abolish the travel ban decision imposed on her by the Egyptian General Attorney in March 2017. The upcoming hearing will take place on July 18. Ragheb doubts if Esraa will attend, given the Covid-19 precautionary measures.
A state-affiliated TV channel Al-Assema streamed a video accusing Esra of being a spy on November 10, 2017. The video claimed that she has received foreign funding to destabilize the country and showed personal pictures of Esraa on the beach in her swimming suit. The photographs were leaked from her personal cell phone which was stolen from her a few days before the leak. This was the second time that Esraa’s personal conversations and pictures were doxed by pro-state media outlets.
In April 2008, Esraa formed a Facebook group to support textile workers in Mahala Al-Kobra and this group attracted over 740,000 users. She used social media as a tool to assemble and engage people way before it was used in Iran or Tunisia. She went to Al-Mahala with a group of activists, to support textile workers who were striking and ultimately, and was taken into custody for two weeks with the rest of the activists.
Her detention, along with other activists, drew immense attention towards the strike in Mahala and dictatorship in Egypt. After their release, she and the group founded the 6th of April movement which played a vital role in the political life in Egypt and the revolutionary events that kick-started in January 2011.
Esraa played a key role in the movement and in the national association for change. She supported the protests and remained one of the main sources of updates and insights about the situation in the square during the 18 days.
After Mubarak’s regime was toppled, Esraa was subjected to doxing, retaliation, and intimidation for her journalism and activism. She was one of the key youth leaders at the helm of negotiations with military generals to liberate political life in Egypt. In the wake of the revolution, Esraa continued to persist through journalism and civil society activities. She used journalism as a tool of activism by writing articles, blogs, tweets, and posts on different platforms covering stories in Egypt.
After the regime changed and the state began targeting human rights and political activists, Esraa suffered at the hands of malicious media campaigns by state-affiliated media outlets and social media accounts that leaked her private life. Her personal life came under attack and she continued to receive threats.
CFWIJ recognizes Esraa’s actions of raising her voice against state oppression in Egypt as part of her journalistic duties. We demand that the Egyptian authorities stop arresting journalists and allow them to do their work without any fear. Journalists should be free to exercise their freedom of speech and no dictatorial regime can take away this right from them. No country can prosper with its press and media in chains.
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The Coalition For Women In Journalism is a global organization of support for women journalists. The CFWIJ pioneered mentorship for mid-career women journalists across several countries around the world, and is the first organization to focus on the status of free press for women journalists. We thoroughly document cases of any form of abuse against women in any part of the globe. Our system of individuals and organizations brings together the experience and mentorship necessary to help female career journalists navigate the industry. Our goal is to help develop a strong mechanism where women journalists can work safely and thrive.
Follow us on Instagram @womeninjournalism and Twitter @CFWIJ. Our website is WomenInJournalism.org and we can be reached at [press@womeninjournalism.org][7]