Egypt: One year of injustice for woman journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah
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Read our statement in English
Egypt: One year of injustice for woman journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah
October 13, 2020, Cairo,Egypt—Journalist Esraa Abdel-Fattah as of today has spent one year in pre-trial detention pending case no. 488\2019. Justice is absent from Egypt by the use of arbitrary pretrial detention. The Coalition For Women In Journalism salutes Esraa’s persistence and the path in which she always defended freedom of expression and we call upon the Egyptian authorities to end her deplorable bidding for justice.
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. 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.
Esraa is a journalist, human rights defender, and revolution icon. She has been in pre-trial detention for a year; with no trial or final verdict or release. Esraa was enlisted and interrogated in another case while she is already detained in the current case and was ordered 15 days in pre-trial detention to start after she ends her current pretrial detention that might extend till 2 years according to article 202 of the Egyptian criminal procedures law. Last week, journalist Basma Mostafa was briefly detained and went to the same imprisonment facility where Esraa is imprisoned. According to Basma, Esraa burst into tears when she saw her. While she was leaving the facility Esraa told her “my ultimate hope is to get acquitted in one of the cases, is to know a time that I will serve and then retain my freedom back”.
Alternative noble peace prize winner, founder of Nazra for feminist studies, and Esraa’s close friend Mozn Hassan expressed her sadness over Esraa's unjust detention “ Esraa is a cheerful supportive friend. Our friendship is filled with precious moments and details starting from shopping, swimming, exploring new cuisines, and more. I suspended all these activities until her release. None of these activities is the same without her”
Journalist, advocacy officer of Committee For Justice, and Esraa’s friend Shaimaa Abu Elkhier commented on her pretrial detention “ There is no justification for the inhuman treatment and indefinite detention time of Esraa but Egyptian authorities will to valley rational and moderate voices. Putting people like Esraa behind bars is an immense loss for the Egyptian regime itself not only for democratic civil dissidents.”
Journalist and founder of Andalus Institute For Tolerance and Anti-Violence Studies and Esraa’s friend, Ahmed Samih added his commentary on Esraa’s detention “ Esraa’s imprisonment is an utter injustice. She is jailed not because of a crime or an act but for her overall activism as a journalist, activist, and human rights defender for over 10 years. When political oppression was escalating in Egypt between 2013-2016, I and Esraa became Cinema fellows. We were dodging Social and political pressure by picking movies to attend in Cinemas”
Esraa’s sister Shaimaa added “In my last visit to Esraa on September 24, she was stronger than August's previous visit where she was so tired due to high blood pressure. When I asked her about the new case, She told me that they are accusing her of conducting meetings in her cell while she is kept in a cell with mothers and their babies. In order to occupy some of her time and to make use of this wasted years of her life, Esraa wants to register for a digital journalism diploma to study when she is detained. Hopefully, the lawyer will be able to register her soon” A month before she completed one year in Jail, Esraa was enlisted in a new case that was initiated in 2020 while she is detained since 2019. This development in her case is a reappraisal act by the Egyptian authorities towards her.
After one year of waiting for justice, isn’t now the time for the judiciary system in Egypt to show any gesture of rule of law and respect for fundamental human rights by releasing Esraa or at least put her in a trail to end this arbitrary detention period. The Coalition For Women In Journalism has highlighted the unjust proceedings against Esraa Abdel Fattah and Solafa Magdy and many others suffering from arbitrary pretrial detention in Egypt. Over the course of our work noted down the systematic usage of pretrial detention as a reappraisal act against women journalists and political dissidents.
CFWIJ is appalled by the absence of rule of law and injustice towards women journalists like Esraa Abdel Fattah and we call upon the UN experts on arbitrary detention and reappraisal acts to send inquiries to the Egyptian authorities about Esraa’s case and the overall practice of pretrial detention in Egypt. CFWIJ urges the judiciary branch in Egypt to review pretrial detention cases and refrain from being an instrument of reappraisal by the security apparatus.
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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
Read our statement in Arabic
قبل شهر من أتمام أسراء عام في الحبس الاحتياطي تم إدراجها على قوائم قضية جديدة تبدأ أحداثها في 2020 على الرغم من احتجاز الصحفية منذ أكتوبر 2019 ويعد هذا التطور في قضية أسراء تجلي للنهج الانتقامي الذي تنتهجه السلطات المصرية إزاء أسراء.
