Modon Holding posts AED 2.1bn net profit in H1 2025    Egypt's Electricity Ministry says new power cable for Giza area operational    Egypt exports first high-tech potato seeds to Uzbekistan after opening market    Egypt's Al-Sisi, Italian defence minister discuss Gaza, security cooperation    Egypt's FM discusses Gaza, Nile dam with US senators    Aid airdrops intensify as famine deepens in Gaza amid mounting international criticism    Health minister showcases AI's impact on healthcare at Huawei Cloud Summit    On anti-trafficking day, Egypt's PM calls fight a 'moral and humanitarian duty'    Federal Reserve maintains interest rates    Egypt strengthens healthcare partnerships to enhance maternity, multiple sclerosis, and stroke care    Egypt keeps Gaza aid flowing, total tops 533,000 tons: minister    Indian Embassy to launch cultural festival in Assiut, film fest in Cairo    Egyptian aid convoy heads toward Gaza as humanitarian crisis deepens    Culture minister launches national plan to revive film industry, modernise cinematic assets    Sudan's ambassador to Egypt holds reconstruction talks on with Arab League    I won't trade my identity to please market: Douzi    Sisi calls for boosting oil & gas investment to ease import burden    Egypt welcomes 25-nation statement urging end to Gaza war    Sisi sends letter to Nigerian president affirming strategic ties    Egypt, Senegal sign pharma MoU to unify regulatory standards    Two militants killed in foiled plot to revive 'Hasm' operations: Interior ministry    Egypt, Somalia discuss closer environmental cooperation    58 days that exposed IMF's contradictions on Egypt    Egypt's EHA, Huawei discuss enhanced digital health    Foreign, housing ministers discuss Egypt's role in African development push    Egypt reveals heritage e-training portal    Three ancient rock-cut tombs discovered in Aswan    Sisi launches new support initiative for families of war, terrorism victims    Egypt expands e-ticketing to 110 heritage sites, adds self-service kiosks at Saqqara    Egypt's Irrigation Minister urges scientific cooperation to tackle water scarcity    Palm Hills Squash Open debuts with 48 international stars, $250,000 prize pool    On Sport to broadcast Pan Arab Golf Championship for Juniors and Ladies in Egypt    Golf Festival in Cairo to mark Arab Golf Federation's 50th anniversary    Germany among EU's priciest labour markets – official data    Paris Olympic gold '24 medals hit record value    A minute of silence for Egyptian sports    Russia says it's in sync with US, China, Pakistan on Taliban    It's a bit frustrating to draw at home: Real Madrid keeper after Villarreal game    Shoukry reviews with Guterres Egypt's efforts to achieve SDGs, promote human rights    Sudan says countries must cooperate on vaccines    Johnson & Johnson: Second shot boosts antibodies and protection against COVID-19    Egypt to tax bloggers, YouTubers    Egypt's FM asserts importance of stability in Libya, holding elections as scheduled    We mustn't lose touch: Muller after Bayern win in Bundesliga    Egypt records 36 new deaths from Covid-19, highest since mid June    Egypt sells $3 bln US-dollar dominated eurobonds    Gamal Hanafy's ceramic exhibition at Gezira Arts Centre is a must go    Italian Institute Director Davide Scalmani presents activities of the Cairo Institute for ITALIANA.IT platform    







Thank you for reporting!
This image will be automatically disabled when it gets reported by several people.



Activists lash out against state security over prisoners of conscience
Published in Daily News Egypt on 05 - 12 - 2008

CAIRO: Lawyers and activists condemned the detention of 10 men who they say are prisoners of conscience during a seminar held Thursday at the Journalists' Syndicate.
The seminar was followed by a protest on the steps of the Syndicate during which demonstrators called for the release of the detainees.
Twenty-two-year-old Mohamed Adel, a blogger and IT student was bundled into a car by roughly 30 plain-clothed men while in a Downtown Cairo coffee shop last month on Nov. 20, according to an eyewitness.
A formal arrest warrant was issued four days after Adel's disappearance but his exact whereabouts remain unknown.
Lawyer Ahmed Seif El Islam condemned what he described as the "state thuggery perpetrated by police.
"Egypt's young people are being detained without a legal basis, Seif El Islam told the seminar.
"Their lives are in danger because we have no idea where they are - even the public prosecution office doesn't know where they are. This is state thuggery.
Seif El Islam warned that the draft Counter-Terrorism law currently before parliament "will give the police even more power than they already have.
The situation of Bahaa Fezaa was described by another speaker. Fezaa, a member of the Islamic-leaning Labor Party has been in administrative detention for five years despite the fact that he has received 11 release orders.
According to a statement given out during the seminar Fezaa was detained because he printed articles written by Labor Party chairman Magdy Hussein and discussed them with young people.
Gamal Eid, director of the Arab Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) said that for the first time ANHRI called on the Interior Ministry to respect the provisions of emergency law.
This law - in force since a state of emergency was declared in 1981 - is criticized by rights groups who say that the powers of administrative detention afforded by it are abused to circumvent the protection offered by the ordinary judiciary and detain political opponents.
"We brought a case acknowledging that it is the interior ministry's right to use the emergency law - for the first time in our history, Eid said.
"But if it uses that law, the Interior Ministry must respect its provisions and reveal Mohamed Adel's whereabouts.
Eid reminded the seminar that decisions in two legal cases brought against bloggers are expected this month.
Tamer Mabrouk is the subject of a legal case brought by a company in Port Said following criticism he published on his blog, of the company's role in causing pollution.
Alaa Abdel Fatah and Manal Hassan (publishers of the Manalaa.net blog) are - together with Eid - the subject of a case brought by Judge Abdel Fattah Murad who accuses them of defamation.
In December 2007 the administrative court rejected a case brought by Murad seeking the closure of 51 human rights websites (including manalaa.net and ANHRI's website) which he accused of damaging Egypt's reputation.
Blogger Wael Abbas and Adel's father both paid tribute to Adel.
Abbas showed a video of Adel being arrested during the 2006 protests against attacks on the independence of the judiciary.
Adel - then only 17 years old - was detained with other protestors in Cairo's Tora Prison which, Abbas explained, was a violation of laws governing the detention of minors.
Abbas said that Adel has been "kidnapped rather than detained.
Adel's father told the seminar that his house has been searched twice by state security forces.
"They first came at 1.30 am on Oct. 30 and asked where Mohamed was.
He was in Cairo at the time, Adel's father said.
"When they came back on Nov. 20 I got extremely agitated and shouted at them 'why do you want to search my house again?' I told them, 'if you need evidence against Mohamed will books by [Islamic scholar] Zaghloul Naggar do?'
"I even said to them, 'here, take some money and buy whatever it is you want to use as evidence against Mohamed - you can do whatever you want anyway.
Adel's father spoke proudly of his son, who he said belongs "to a generation with nothing to lose, and no hope in anything.
Blogger and journalist Abdel Moneim Mahmoud said that members of the Muslim Brotherhood had received information that Adel is currently being held in state security headquarters in Nasr City, Cairo, together with Abdel Aziz Megahed.
"Megahed was summoned by state security to pick up the laptop seized in April when he was arrested during the local elections, Mahmoud said.
"He went to collect the laptop on Nov. 4 and has since disappeared.
"Megahed and Adel are being subjected to torture, now, as we speak. Detainees in the Nasr City headquarters are held in tiny cells, blindfolded 24 hours a day, beaten and tortured, he alleged.
Abdel Aziz recently graduated from Helwan University where he was active in the 'Free Union', a union organized by students prevented from involvement in the security body-controlled official university union.
Mahmoud suggests on his blog that Adel and Megahed have been detained because of photographs of them with Hamas leaders which they took in Gaza in January when the Rafah crossing was breached.


Clic here to read the story from its source.