Egypt: New charges pressed against Solafa Magdy and Esraa Abdel-Fattah along with renewal of arbitrary detention. Authorities use revolving cases as instruments to suppress press freedom.
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Egypt: New charges pressed against Solafa Magdy and Esraa Abdel-Fattah along with renewal of arbitrary detention. Authorities use revolving cases as instruments to suppress press freedom.
August 31, Cairo, Egypt — Journalists Solafa Magdy and Esraa Abdel-Fattah were interrogated pending case no. 855\2020 national security and ordered 15 days in pre-trial detention. Their new jail time will start after the end of their current pre-trial detention pending case no. 488\2019.
This continuous persecution of journalists in Egypt is deplorable. The Coalition For Women In Journalism demands authorities in the country to stop the prejudice against Solafa and Esraa, and release them immediately. The two are being victimized for doing their job and are being subjected to human rights violations. The government in Egypt continues to override its repressive laws to ostracize journalists, which only reflects the absence of rule of law in the country.
The Supreme National Security Prosecution office interrogated the two journalists Solafa and Esraa in a new case over new allegations of “joining banned political groups and polarizing fellow inmates to join this group”.
Solafa, Esraa and others were listed on this case initiated in 2020. However, they have been detained since October 2019. The two journalists have been detained for almost a year in pre-trial detention pending case no. 488\2020. According to article 202 of the Egyptian criminal procedures code, pre-trial detention shouldn’t be extended for more than two years.
To override this article, the Egyptian prosecution office - upon instructions from the national security - enlists detainees on new cases while they are still imprisoned. Journalists and political prisoners have been targeted through this tactic for over five times in the past four months. It seems that the current repressive laws are not sufficient for the Egyptian authorities anymore. They manipulate these laws to suppress prisoners of conscience and journalists.
Consequently, hundreds of journalists and political prisoners spend unlimited time in arbitrarily pre-trial detention. Detainees' ultimate hope now is to stand for trial even if they get convicted. They just seek a final unjust verdict to serve their time and get released. Even if they get evicted, the national security comes up with the new phenomena of revolving cases. By the time a journalist or political prisoner serves their time, they get interrogated in a new case to start the whole process from the beginning and the vicious circle continues.
Gamal Eid, Director and founder of the Arab Network for human rights information commented on this new escalation and said that the pre-trial detention of Solafa and Esraa is “a clear reprisal act from the regime against them in absence of rule of law”.
Solafa was detained by Egyptian security forces in plainclothes, along with her husband Hossam El-Sayed and lawyer Mohamed Salah from a café in Cairo on November 26, 2019. The journalist was charged for “joining a terrorist organization and spreading false news" in the wake of similar arrests taking place in the country. A lawyer representing Solafa said that she was being subjected to violence and mistreatment during interrogation.
Esraa was arrested by security officers in plainclothes in the Dokki area of Giza, west of Cairo on October 13, 2019. They took her to an undisclosed location and subjected her to physical assault. Esraa was told to share her cell phone’s password as well, and she gave in to this unjust demand to save her life. During Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review session in the UN human rights council in November 2019, UN experts raised concerns about the high number of detainees being held in prolonged pre-trial detention.
CFWIJ is concerned about this continuous oppression of journalists and press in Egypt. Solafa and Esraa’s cases have intensified our apprehensions. It is a definitive embodiment of Egyptian authorities' oppression and disrespect of the rule of law. We urge UN experts on arbitrary detention to send an inquiry about it to the Egyptian government.
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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
