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| Open Letter concerning the arrest of Dr Saad El-Din Ibrahim | Date: 11-07-2000 |
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Open Letter concerning the arrest of Dr Saad El-Din Ibrahim, 11.7.2000 Open letter to the Egyptian authorities concerning the arrest of Dr Saad El-Din Ibrahim, Director of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Developmental Studies. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) has noted with concern the arrest of Dr Saad El-Din Ibrahim and seven staff members on Friday 30 June 2000 and the closing of the offices of the Ibn Khaldoun Centre for Developmental Studies. According to our information, the State Security Prosecutor ordered the arrest of Dr Ibrahim for fifteen days pending the investigation charging him with, among others, accepting funds from a foreign party with the purpose of carrying out work harmful to Egypt’s national interest and disseminating provocative propaganda that could cause damage to the public interest. The arrest resembles the case of Hafez Abu Saeda, General Secretary of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights (EOHR), who in December 1998 and January 2000 was subjected to the same charges of having received foreign funding without notifying the authorities, which carries a term of imprisonment of at least seven years. The charges against Dr Ibrahim seem to be linked to a civic advocacy campaign which the Ibn Khaldoun Centre is currently conducting supported by EU Commission funds. It includes the making of a documentary film to encourage participation in the forthcoming parliamentary elections and monitoring it. The arrest was followed-up by the closing down and confiscation of documents of the office of Hay'at Da'am al-Nakhibat (Association for the Support of Women Voters, close to the Ibn Khaldoun Centre), by security forces. The EMHRN is deeply concerned about this recent attack on civil society representatives in Egypt. It urges the Egyptian authorities to reopen the Ibn Khaldoun Centre and the Hay'at Da'am al-Nakhibat and release Dr Ibrahim and his staff members. In case of doubts of the financial transactions of Dr Ibrahim and the Ibn Khaldoun Centre, it should be subjected to an ordinary criminal prosecution and not to the State Security prosecutor. ensure that civil society can operate in accordance with the spirit of the Barcelona Declaration, to which Egypt has committed itself, and which acknowledges the importance of civil society for the development of societies. |
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