Following the arrest of Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad and his subsequent declaration of a hunger strike on August 23, Dutch politician Han Ter Broeke, (VVD – People's Party for Freedom and Democracy, an economic liberal party in the ruling coalition since 2010 Dutch cabinet formation) – and member of the House of Representatives of the Netherlands since 2006 and spokesman for foreign affairs and defense, submitted on September 7 a number of questions pertaining to this case, to Dutch minister of foreign affairs, Uri Rosenthal. The dossier of questions submitted by Ter Broeke remained unanswered by Minister Rosenthal until October 18, when Pim Wientjes, policy officer on Egypt and Yemen at the Middle East and North Africa desk of the ministry in question, sent an answer in writing on behalf of minister Rosenthal to the House of Representatives of the General-States. The questions had been available on Ter Broeke's website since September 7 and were acknowledge by the ministry on September 9. He questioned minister Rosenthal on whether he was aware of the arrest of Egyptian blogger and now political prisoner Maikel Nabil and his declared hunger strike since August 23, to which minister Rosenthal answered with a polite ‘Yes'. Furthermore, Ter Broeke inquired about the opinion of the ministry on Maikel Nabil's extended incarceration without a fair trial and about the fact that he was incarcerated for nothing but his political opinions, not to mention the intimidation, incarceration and trials of over 12,000 Egyptians, curtailing their freedom of expression. The minister replied that “freedom of expression, including Internet freedom is the foundation of law and democracy,” expressing concern over the curtailed freedom of expression and the persecution of online activists in Egypt. He also added that Nabil would be put on trial again on October 18, perhaps oblivious of the fact that on that day the trial was boycotted by Nabil, his lawyers and other activists, in which no clear decision was made about his fate other than unconfirmed reports of his transfer to a military psychiatric hospital, after he threatened to commit suicide. In the meantime, Nabil's hunger strike is about to enter its 60th day and the resolution of his case or eventual release seem far-fetched possibilities, making clear not only the bureaucratic sloppiness of the process but the total unwillingness of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) in Egypt to do proper justice. Minister Rosenthal insisted upon his opposition to civilians being put on trial in military courts. He was questioned by Broeke over his willingness to bring the matter to the attention of the Egyptian authorities either directly or through the European Union; to which he responded that Lionel Veer, the Dutch Human Rights ambassador (from the Permanent Mission of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations) had brought up the issue of Nabil to the Egyptian authorities and the minister of justice during a visit to Egypt on May 18 and 19. According to the Permanent Mission, Veer visited Egypt to take part in the “Framing the Future” conference that was sponsored by Stichting DOEN, a Dutch foundation that receives its revenues from national lotteries and Free Press Unlimited, another Dutch organization supporting independent media. In words of Veer, “Freedom of expression, which includes Internet freedom and variety of news media, is essential for a mature democracy. The Netherlands therefore supports knowledge sharing between Dutch and Arab professionals.” The conference was preceded by workshops on Photojournalism and digital journalism, all of which was organized by the Cairo Image Collective, the Noor Foundation (also based in the Netherlands) and Invest In the Future (a training program for journalists). While Veer participated in this conference along with prominent bloggers and journalists, meeting as well with prominent politicians, the national human rights council and representatives of civil society, Maikel Nabil remained imprisoned and countless others were put on military trial for the very same freedom of expression that Veer campaigned, although it was stated that his agenda included talks about the human rights situation in Egypt, the recent attacks on the Coptic church and the position of women, no mention of Nabil is made or whether it was the case that he met with justice minister. According to minister Rosenthal, the issue of Nabil was brought before the Egyptian ambassador at The Hague on May 16, but no information is provided about the outcome of these high level talks. The ministry states that the issue was brought also before EU High Commissioner Ashton in April; following from another Dutch politician, Member of the European Parliament Marietje Schaake, from the Committee on Foreign Affairs (D66, social-democratic party, from the Alliance of Liberals and Democrats in Europe; other politician from this coalition who has spoken on behalf of Nabil is Slovenian MEP Ivo Vajgl on October 7 and also the European Bureau of Conscientious Objection on August 30) who requested Ashton on April 12 to demand the release of Nabil immediately or in words of Schaake, “EU must remain alert and speak clearly.” The minister also stated that the president of the European Commission raised the issue during a visit to Egypt in July but that on advice of human rights organizations in Egypt, the EU decided not to make any public statements, hoping to work the issue through the regular diplomatic channels. Lastly, Broeke inquired about any Dutch initiatives to create a European equivalent of the US Global Online Freedom Act to protect Internet freedom in countries like Egypt. Minister Rosenthal stated that the bill has not been passed by US congress, and although it was recently a controversial matter of debate in the Netherlands – also by MEP Schaake – the issue remains under discussion and will be picked up on December 9 at a conference on internet freedom in The Hague. The Dutch government overall has remained quiet on the matter even though it threatened Egypt with economic sanctions over the massacre that took place recently at Maspero where 27 Egyptians were killed; it is clear however that they prefer to act with diplomacy and sometimes with indifference as it was the case with Zahra Bahrami, a Dutch-Iranian citizen who has sentenced to death in Iran and executed on January 29; following from that the Dutch government froze contact with Iran, even though Dutch officials in Tehran never contacted Bahrami's lawyers until it was already very late and nevertheless diplomatic ties between the two countries were resumed on February 18. Although the governments of Germany and the United Kingdom have issued public statements calling for the immediate release of Maikel Nabil, these requests have fallen on deaf ears and his situation hangs on uncertainty; in the meantime the response of minister Rosenthal, available in Dutch from the national government's website, has acknowledged the case but ultimately decided to take no further action, which casts some doubt whether any sanctions will be applied to Egypt over the massacre in Maspero after all. BM
