Arab organisation for Human Rights in the UK (AOHR UK) said that the arrest of the former Editor-in-Chief of Al-Ahram newspaper, Abdel Nasser Salama, after publishing an article criticizing the Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, is a policy of the Egyptian regime to silence and terrorize opponents, and is a violation of the freedom of the press and freedom of opinion and expression.
The Journalist Abdel Nasser Salama was arrested on Sunday at dawn, July 17, 2021, from his house in Alexandria.
AOHR UK stressed that the arrest of journalists and critics of the policies of the Egyptian regime is a habit practiced by the Egyptian security services, especially since the judicial system, which should protect the rights of opinion-holders, journalists, researchers, bloggers, and activists, is not independent and receives its orders from the security services. The absence of justice in Egypt resulted in dozens of journalists and activists spending years in prison for sharing opposing views to the regime.
AOHR UK emphasized that the arrest of journalists, without evidence and based on fabricated charges, is evidence that the Egyptian regime criminalizes the exercise of the basic rights of citizens, freedom of opinion and expression, calls for the transfer of power, and the independence of the judiciary as punishable crimes that fall under the list of terrorism acts.
AOHR UK added that despite the fact that the US and European legislation requires respect for basic human rights as a condition before providing any kind of funding, Western countries still support the Egyptian regime despite its bloody human rights record and its violations against dissidents.
AOHR UK renewed its call on all human rights organisations, activists, journalists, media, and all human rights defenders to form a global public opinion rejecting the violations of the Egyptian regime and to pressure the governments of Western countries to stop all kinds of support to this regime which continues to crush its opponents’ rights every day.
