Arab Organisation for Human Rights in the UK condemned the sentence issued by the Egyptian judiciary today, Sunday, March 5, 2023, against 31 Egyptian human rights activists and dissidents. The sentences were varying but the majority were life imprisonment. AOHR UK denounced these verdicts as it is an ongoing policy of silencing and terrorising human rights activists, and eliminating the right to freedom of opinion and expression.
Arresting journalists, human rights activists, and critics of the Egyptian authorities policies and issuing harsh sentences against them has become a systematic practice by the Egyptian authorities. It utilises the judicial system which is not independent anymore but rather follows orders by the security services, leaving human rights defenders, lawyers, and activists without any kind of legal protection.
Two detainees, Aisha Al-Shater, and the lawyer, Hoda Abdel Moneim, were transferred o the court by ambulance as they suffer from very serious health conditions that threaten their lives.
The arrest of human rights activists on fabricated charges and without evidence clearly shows how the Egyptian authorities are penalizing the practice of the most basic rights of citizens. It considers defending human rights, including the freedom of opinion and expression, as well as calling for democracy and for the transfer of power and independence of the judiciary as punishable terrorism crimes.
Although the American and European legislation require respect for basic human rights before receiving any funds, the governments of Western countries are still funding the Egyptian authorities, while turning a blind eye to all the violations against their opponents, and despite the existence of many reports issued by these countries on the lack of human rights in Egypt.
AOHR UK renewed its call on all human rights organisations, activists, journalists, the media and all human rights defenders around the world to form a global public opinion rejecting and shedding light on the violations of the Egyptian authorities. It also called them to put pressure on Western governments to stop any kind of support or funding for this dictatorship, which continues to crush civil society and human rights defenders every single day.
