Kategorie: Humans

The welcome lifting of a years-long state of emergency in Egypt is marred by ongoing trials of dozens of arbitrarily detained human rights defenders, activists, opposition politicians and peaceful protesters by emergency courts where proceedings are inherently unfair, Amnesty International said today. 

On 1 November, blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, human rights lawyer and director of Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms Mohamed Baker and blogger and activist Mohamed Ibrahim (known as Mohammed “Oxygen”), will appear before an Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) to face politically motivated charges of “spreading false information to undermine national security” over their social media posts. All three have spent more than two years in abusive pretrial detention in appalling conditions, denied private access to lawyers and regular contact with their families.

“The lifting of the state of emergency is good news in that the authorities will no longer be able to refer new cases to the emergency courts that were created under it. However, the news has a sting in its tail. Existing trials before these courts are set to continue, their number swollen by a recent string of referrals of detained human rights defenders and activists,” said Philip Luther, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Research and Advocacy Director.

“For this to be a meaningful step towards addressing Egypt’s human rights crisis, the authorities must immediately and unconditionally release those facing trial before emergency courts solely for peacefully exercising their human rights. They include Alaa Abdel Fattah, Mohamed Baker and Mohamed ‘Oxygen’ Ibrahim, who have already spent over two years in prison solely for their peaceful activism and defence of human rights. The authorities should also stop the use of emergency courts altogether, as their proceedings breach the most basic fair trial standards, including defendants’ right to have their convictions and sentences reviewed by higher courts.”

On 25 October 2021, President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi announced that he would not extend the state of emergency, in force since 2017.  Yet in the three months preceding this decision, the Egyptian authorities referred at least 20 human rights defenders, activists and opposition politicians to trial before emergency courts. 

Egypt’s ESSCs are activated during a state of emergency, since the Emergency Law allows the president to appoint judges to the courts and to designate crimes that are subject to their jurisdiction. Prosecutors then refer all cases related to those crimes to ESSCs, but are no longer able to do so once the state of emergency ends. Article 19 of the law governing the state of emergency stipulates that ongoing trials are to continue even after the state of emergency is no longer in force.

Tried by emergency courts on bogus “false information” charges

The charges against both Alaa Abdelfattah and Mohamed Baker stem from their criticism of the authorities’ treatment of prisoners and suspicious deaths in custody, while charges against Mohamed “Oxygen” are based on his posts about the government’s poor track record in upholding socio-economic rights. None of their posts include any incitement to violence or hatred and are therefore protected under Egypt’s constitution and international obligations to respect the right to freedom of expression.

In addition to the trial of these three activists, Amnesty International is aware of at least 143 other cases tried by ESSCs since the state of emergency came into force in April 2017, including those solely stemming from defendants’ peaceful exercise of their right to freedom of assembly and expression.  

Among those currently on trial by ESSCs on charges of spreading “false information” are human rights defender and student Patrick George Zaki; former parliamentarian and human rights lawyer Zyad el-Elaimy, journalists and politicians Hisham Fouad and Hossam Moanis;  human rights defender Ezzat Ghoniem, human rights lawyer Hoda Abdelmoniem, former presidential candidate of Masr al-Qawiya party Abdelmoniem Aboulfotoh, and deputy party head Mohamed al-Kassas. All of them have been held in prolonged pretrial detention pending investigations over terrorism related accusations, some for over two years, the absolute maximum period for pretrial detention permissible under Egyptian law.

On 22 June 2021, a Misdemeanours ESSC convicted student Ahmed Samir Santawy of charges of publishing “false information”  and sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment following a grossly unfair trial over the content of social media posts.

Proceedings in front of ESSCs are inherently unfair. Defendants are denied the right to appeal their convictions and sentences in front of a higher tribunal. Other documented fair trial standards’ violations include the right to have adequate time and facilities for the preparation of their defence, right to communicate with counsel of their own choosing and right to a public hearing. For instance, Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Baker have not been able to see their lawyers in private since May.

 In addition, judges at the ESSC routinely deny requests by lawyers to photocopy casefiles, which in some cases exceed 2,000 pages, instead instructing them to review them in court. Prosecutors and judges have also failed to provide copies of indictment orders to defendants and their lawyers, undermining their right to be informed of the exact nature and cause of charges against them.

Reprisal in detention

Alaa Abdel Fattah, Mohamed “Oxygen”, Mohammed Baker are held at Tora Maximum Security 2 prison in punitive and abusive conditions that violate the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.

 Unlike other prisoners, Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Baker are confined to their small and poorly ventilated cells, barred from exercise and access to fresh air and any reading material. They sleep on blankets on the floor with no beds or mattresses, causing them joint and back pain. Formal complaints to prosecutors that this treatment amounts to a violation of prisoners’ rights under Egyptian prison law have been ignored.

The three activists’ request to access Covid-19 vaccines has been ignored, and they have not been allowed to wear face masks or use hydroalcoholic gel even though they are in overcrowded cells.

The mental health toll has been devastating. In August 2021, Mohamed “Oxygen” attempted suicide after being denied family visits and legal representation for months according to the Arab Network for Human Rights Information, a human rights organization. Amnesty International learned that Alaa Abdel Fattah, expressed suicidal thoughts to his lawyers last month and has been denied regular correspondence with his family.

“The Egyptian authorities are accusing brave activists daring to dream of a better future for Egypt of spreading ‘false information’ endangering national security. It is high time for the authorities to stop the detention, prosecution, imprisonment and harassment of peaceful critics and dissidents, and to desist from equating peaceful human rights or political activism with terrorism,” said Philip Luther.

It is high time for the authorities to stop the detention, prosecution, imprisonment and harassment of peaceful critics and dissidents, and to desist from equating peaceful human rights or political activism with terrorism.

Philip Luther, Amnesty International

Background

Alaa Abdel Fattah was arrested on 29 September 2019. His lawyer, Mohamed Baker, was arrested the same day from the prosecution building where he went to meet with his client.  Upon their transfer to the prison in October 2019, prison officers blindfolded Alaa Abdel Fattah, stripped him of his clothing, beat and kicked him repeatedly, and subjected him and Mohamed Baker to threats and verbal abuse. The Public Prosecutor has failed to order investigations.

 Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim has been arbitrarily detained since 21 September 2019.

On 19 November 2020 the Cairo Criminal Court arbitrarily added Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Baker to the “terrorist list” for five years without any due process. The effect of the decision includes a travel ban and prohibition from engaging in political and civic work for five years.

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• UK and Germany blocking waiver of vaccine patents and technologies supported by US, Indonesia, France, India and other G20 leaders.
• Over 80% of G20 population live in countries that support COVID-19 Intellectual Property waiver

Failure to tackle global vaccine inequality at this weekend’s G20 summit could prolong the pandemic, civil society groups have warned, if leaders do not address structural problems they have so far ignored allowing COVID-19 doses to be hoarded by rich nations.

The People’s Vaccine Alliance, a coalition of more than 75 organisations including Oxfam, Amnesty International, the African Alliance, UNAIDS, and Global Justice Now, is calling for G20 leaders to unblock global supply shortages by waiving intellectual property and sharing technology of COVID-19 vaccines, diagnostics  and treatments.

G20 countries represent 62% of the world’s population but have used 82% of the world’s COVID-19 vaccines. Only 3.1% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.

The G20 are deeply divided on a proposal to temporarily suspend intellectual property rules on COVID-19 technologies to allow wider vaccine production. Rather than constructively negotiate this life-saving proposal, led by South Africa and India, rich country members Germany and the UK have prevented unified G20 action to protect billions of people.

G20 members such as President Rhamaphosa of South Africa have spoken out bitterly about the continued intransigence of rich nations on the patent issue and the vaccine apartheid this is creating.

Eighty-two per cent of the G20 population live in countries that support the waiver, yet the measure is being blocked by just three opposing G20 members: the UK, Germany and, by extension, the EU. The UK and Germany have fully vaccinated three times as many people, relative to population, than India and South Africa.

The alliance is calling on G20 leaders to pressure the UK and Germany to resolve the dispute, which would allow all safe manufacturers approved by the World Health Organisation (WHO) to produce COVID-19 vaccines, unlocking the world’s productive capacity to end the pandemic.

Anna Marriot, policy lead for the People’s Vaccine Alliance, said:

“It’s an absolute scandal that the G20 has wasted a year ignoring a proposal, backed by the majority of its members, to break vaccine monopolies and ensure the life-saving vaccines can be made around the world to save countless lives. The G20 is turning its back on the thousands of children orphaned every day by this pandemic. G20 leaders who support the waiver must not be silenced by the rich country members like the UK and Germany. It is beyond time to act.”

Indonesia, a G20 country that supports the waiver, told a WHO press conference earlier this year it could manufacture 550 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines a year, but intellectual property and secrecy around vaccine knowhow have held it back.

Ahead of the G20, People’s Vaccine activists are holding stunts in Italy and the United States to demand government action on global vaccine inequality [details in notes].

Tamaryn Nelson, advisor on right to health from Amnesty International said:

“When the G20 met last year, 1.3 million people had died of COVID-19 and leaders vowed to spare no effort to ensure access to vaccines for all people. A year later, not much has changed, except another 3.5 million people lost their lives to COVID-19. It’s unconscionable that G20 leaders are not taking sufficient action while tens of thousands of people continue to die every week.

“Countries sitting on excess vaccines must redistribute these doses now and pharmaceutical companies need to share the know-how needed to scale up global production. Anything short of this is depriving billions of people of lifesaving vaccines and medicines. We have no more time to waste.”

A report last month from Amnesty International found that large pharmaceutical companies were fueling an unprecedented human rights crisis through their refusal to waive intellectual property rights and share vaccine technology, criticising AstraZeneca, BioNTech, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Novavax and Pfizer for refusing to participate in initiatives to boost global vaccine supply.

Nick Dearden, Director of Global Justice Now, said:

“Armed with effective vaccines and abundant manufacturing capacity, we should be able to swiftly vaccinate the world from COVID-19. But, unless we clear away vaccine patents, it will be years before global south countries receive the jabs, leading to countless deaths and increasing the risk of deadly new variants. G20 leaders like Boris Johnson must finally agree to redistribute the jabs they have hoarded and waive vaccine intellectual property at this summit, or they risk condemning the world to an endless pandemic.”

Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO’s director general, has repeatedly called for governments to support an intellectual property waiver at the WTO. Last week, Dr Bruce Aylward, a senior leader at the WHO, warned the COVID-19 crisis could “easily drag on deep into 2022” because of global vaccine inequality.

Epidemiologists have warned that global vaccine inequality threatens to undermine our current generation of vaccines, while a report from the Wellcome Trust and Institute for Government warned that virus mutations will “chip away” at the protection offered by vaccines.

Maaza Seyoum from the African Alliance said:

“The staggering inequality of global manufacturing and distribution has given rise to a system of vaccine apartheid – and even G20 countries, like South Africa and Indonesia, have found themselves at the sharp end. An endless stream of false promises of vaccine donations from rich countries has failed to materialise. We cannot wait for charity. It’s time to remove the intellectual property barriers and share the knowhow needed for low and middle-income countries produce COVID-19 vaccines for ourselves.”

Earlier this month, the People’s Vaccine Alliance found  that just one in seven of the 1.8 billion COVID-19 vaccine doses promised by rich nations have been delivered to date, totaling just 261 million doses. Western pharmaceutical companies have delivered only 12 percent of the doses they allocated to COVAX, the initiative designed to help fairly distribute COVID-19 vaccines.

The Peoples’ Vaccine Alliance is calling for G20 leaders to:

• Suspend intellectual property rights for COVID vaccines, tests, treatments, and other medical tools by agreeing to the proposed temporary waiver of the TRIPS Agreement at the World Trade Organisation. 
• Demand and use all their legal and policy tools to require pharmaceutical companies to share COVID-19 data, know-how, and technology with the WHO’s COVID-19 Technology Access Pool and South Africa mRNA Technology Transfer Hub. 
• Invest in decentralised manufacturing hubs in developing countries to move from a world of vaccine monopolies and scarcity to one of vaccine sufficiency and fairness in which developing countries have direct control over production capacity to meet their needs. 
• Immediately redistribute existing vaccines equitably across all nations to achieve the WHO target of vaccinating 40 per cent of people in all countries by the end of 2021 and 70 per cent of people in all countries by mid-2022. 

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Sudanese authorities must stop security forces from using unnecessary, including lethal, force against protesters opposed to the military takeover, withdraw the military from law-enforcement operations, and respect the right to freedom of peaceful assembly, said Amnesty International after it confirmed the killing of at least six protesters on 25 October. Further protests are expected on Saturday.

Security forces killed at least six men and wounded another 140 by shooting live rounds into multiple crowds of protesters in the capital Khartoum on 25 October.

“At least six men were shot dead in cold blood and hundreds injured, some critically, simply for exercising their right to peaceful assembly. This is unconscionable and must not be allowed to happen again,” said Deprose Muchena, Amnesty International’s Regional Director for East and Southern Africa.

At least six men were shot dead in cold blood and hundreds injured, some critically, simply for exercising their right to peaceful assembly.

Deprose Muchena

“Sudan’s military leaders, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, must make no mistake about it: the world is watching and will not tolerate further bloodshed. They must order effective and independent investigations into Monday’s killings and ensure that anyone suspected of responsibility for arbitrary or abusive force is prosecuted in fair trials. They must also direct their security forces to desist from using such force at any future protests.”

The protests erupted in Khartoum and some provincial towns, including Madani in central Sudan and El-Fashir in Darfur, in response to General Abdel Fattah Al-Burhan’s announcement declaring a military takeover and a state of emergency across the country. The announcement came a few hours after the military detained Prime Minister Abdalla Hamdok and several of his ministers, with whom the military had shared power shortly after the overthrow of former president Omar al-Bashir.

Sudan’s military leaders, led by General Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, must make no mistake about it: the world is watching and will not tolerate further bloodshed.

Deprose Muchena

Gamal Abdel Nasir, 23, was killed near the army headquarters in Khartoum with gunshot wounds to the eye and hand. His brother told Amnesty International: “I couldn’t even look at his body. His face was mutilated beyond recognition. He loved his country very much and he was my only brother.”

Muhammed Al-Sadiq Musa, 27, was also shot and killed outside the army headquarters. A close family member who was also at the protest told Amnesty International that he was shot and mortally injured when soldiers opened fire after a group of four or five protesters picked up rocks and hurled them in their direction.

Both Gamal and Mohammed were killed by security forces and in neither case would lethal force have been warranted.

“That’s the last time I saw him alive. When I arrived at the hospital the doctors had already pronounced him dead. I was asked to identify the body. I saw gunshot wounds, one in the right side of his neck and the other in the side of his right kidney.”

“We call on Sudan’s military leaders to ensure their security forces observe restraint, and respect and uphold the right to peaceful protest in line with the country’s own laws and international human rights standards,” said Deprose Muchena. “They must also take steps to reverse all measures and actions that trample on human rights, including by releasing all those who have been arbitrarily detained since the military takeover and restoring full access to the internet which has been partially shut down for days now.

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States across the Americas are failing to provide international protection and safety for Haitians on the move, exposing them to a range of human rights violations, including detentions and illegal pushbacks by authorities; extortion; anti-Black racial discrimination; abuses by armed groups, including gender-based violence; and lack of access to adequate housing, healthcare, and employment, said Amnesty International and Haitian Bridge Alliance in a new briefing published today.

“As the political and economic situation continue to deteriorate in Haiti, facilitating massive human rights violations, kidnappings, and generalized violence, states across the Americas are failing to protect Haitians on the move, who are searching for stability and safety, as well as assurances they will not be deported to Haiti where they face serious risks to their lives and safety,” said Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International.

“Today we are calling on states across the region to stop deportations to Haiti and urgently provide Haitians with protection measures, including asylum, and other routes to legal residency so they can re-build their lives in safety.”

Not safe anywhere: Haitians on the move need urgent international protection is the result of an investigation by a team of researchers who spent a week conducting interviews in Tapachula, southern Mexico, where tens of thousands of Haitians are awaiting the outcome of their asylum applications in inhumane conditions, after making the dangerous voyage through South and Central America in search of safety.

States across the Americas are failing to protect Haitians on the move, who are searching for stability and safety

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

More than 26,000 Haitians have requested asylum in Mexico this year. Less than half the claims for international protection that Haitians made in 2020 and 2021 were successful, compared with a 97-98% success rate for Venezuelans or 84-85% for Hondurans in that period, according to data from the Mexican authorities. 

The briefing finds that Mexico is implementing measures that, in practice, may be restricting access to protection for Haitians in several ways. This includes conducting unlawful forced returns and pushbacks to Haiti and Guatemala without assessments of protection, violating the principle of non-refoulement, restricting all Haitian asylum applicants to Tapachula, and failing to consider the range of options for regularization as allowed by Mexican law. In turn this is overloading the system and leading to unsafe conditions and destitution due to lack of access to shelter, food, and other basic needs.Many of the Haitians in Mexico had been living in Chile but felt forced to leave after facing anti-Black racist discrimination and difficulties in regularizing their immigration status, particularly under the Sebastián Piñera administration.

International and regional human rights law prohibits states from returning people to places where their life or freedom would be at risk – a situation that clearly applies to Haiti, a country challenged by widespread gang violence; massive human rights violations, including allegations of crimes against humanity; widespread food insecurity; a recent earthquake; and political instability following the recent assassination of President Jovenel Moïse. Nonetheless, states across the region, especially the United States and Mexico, have continued deportations to Haiti in recent weeks.

Today we are calling on states across the region to stop deportations to Haiti and urgently provide Haitians with protection measures

Erika Guevara-Rosas, Americas director at Amnesty International

According to International Organization for Migration, between 19 September and 19 October, countries across the region returned some 10,800 Haitians back to Haiti, mostly from the United States. The recent, much publicized mass expulsions of Haitians from Del Rio, Texas, reportedly to Haiti and Mexico under Title 42 policies – a measure initially implemented by the Trump administration under the pretext of COVID-19 that authorizes expulsions without screenings or asylum protection – clearly demonstrate that the US authorities are similarly restricting access to international protection for Haitians.

“Our research shows us that Haitians are not safe anywhere. Countries across the region must immediately end all deportations to Haiti and provide Haitians with unrestricted access to international protection,” said Nicole Phillips, Legal Director at Haitian Bridge Alliance. “States must also take swift and effective measures to combat racism and other intersecting forms of discrimination targeting Haitian migrants, including by enforcing rules that forbid racial profiling by public officials, and by implementing public anti-discrimination campaigns that address racism and xenophobia in wider society.”

For more information or to arrange an interview, contact Duncan Tucker: duncan.tucker@amnesty.org

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28 October 2021

Spokespeople available

Ahead of today’s discussion in the Polish Parliament (Sejm) about the proposed ‘Stop LGBT’ bill which would ban Pride marches and other LGBTI gatherings, Amnesty International warned that signing the citizens’ initiative into law would put the rights of LGBTI people in Poland at greater risk than ever.

“Pride is an important moment for LGBTI people and their allies to celebrate their love.  It is also a protest against exactly the kind of discrimination that the Polish authorities are gradually writing into the law. This proposal, which is part of a wider crackdown on LGBTI rights, has no place in any parliament. We call on Polish MPs to recognise that love is love, and reject this hateful proposal which is discriminatory to its core,” said Nils Muižnieks.

“This proposal would restrict people’s rights to peacefully protest. Such restrictions are never acceptable, let alone when supposedly ‘justified’ by discrimination. This initiative may not have originated with the Polish government, but let us be clear: the government’s normalisation of hateful rhetoric has created an environment in which people feel empowered to spew bigotry.”

Nils Muižnieks

The ‘Stop LGBT’ bill originated as a citizen’s legislative initiative, which can be submitted to parliament if it receives signatures from at least 100,000 citizens. If passed, the bill would ban Pride parades, and any other public gatherings that “promote” non-heterosexual sexual orientations and diverse gender identities.

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Alison Abrahams on alison.abrahams@amnesty.org or +32 483 680 812

Out of hours contact details

email: press@amnesty.org  +44 20 7413 5566 twitter: @amnestypress 

Amnesty Poland Aneta Stańczak-Boużyk aneta.stanczak-bouzyk@amnesty.org.pl +48691357935

BACKGROUND

A debate on the bill will take place on Thursday 28 November at 18.00. The vote will take place on 29 November 2021.

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