Responding to the news that the prominent rights activist Hossam Bahgat has been summoned to appear before Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) on 19 January, for questioning over unknown allegations in relation to a new case against him, Amnesty International’s Egypt researcher, Mahmoud Shalaby said:
“Hossam Bahgat, the head of one of Egypt’s leading human rights organizations, has faced years of relentless harassment at the hands of the Egyptian authorities in connection with his legitimate human rights work. Only months after lifting an unjust eight-year travel ban against him, authorities are reviving their reprisal campaign against him in what appears to be a sinister attempt to silence criticism and reporting on their dismal human rights record. The summons was delivered days after the Ministry of Interior threatened legal action over a recent statement by his organization criticizing the prolonged pretrial detention and dire prison conditions that led prisoners in the 10th of Ramadan prison to go on hunger strike.
“The Egyptian authorities have a long track record of repressing and intimidating NGOs and their staff using a wide range of tactics from arbitrary arrest and detention to unjust prosecutions, travel bans , asset freezes, surveillance, excessive monitoring and probation measures, and summons for coercive interrogations. Instead of reinvigorating their efforts to attack anyone critical of their human rights record Egypt’s authorities must stop using the deeply flawed criminal justice system as a tool to target civil society activists and allow them to carry out their human rights work free from reprisal or intimidation.
“This summons once again exposes the disconnect between claims by the Egyptian government, and its allies, that it is taking credible steps to respect human rights and the grim reality on the ground.”
Background:
Hossam Bahgat is the executive director and founder of the human rights group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). On 12 January, EIPR issued a statement about detainees on hunger strike at the 10th of Ramadan prison protesting their prolonged pretrial detention and poor detention conditions.
The Egyptian authorities have a long-standing history of harassing Hossam Bahgat and EIPR’s staff.
In November 2015, Egyptian authorities unlawfully detained Hossam Bahgat for three days for his reporting on a plan to overthrow the government. He was accused of publishing false news over his investigation published by the independent news site Mada Masr. In 2016, the authorities arbitrarily banned Hossam Bahgat from travelling and froze his assets in relation to Case 173, known as the infamous “foreign funding” case, a decade-long abusive criminal investigation that targeted dozens of NGOs. The case, opened in 2011, was only closed 13 years later in 2024.
In November 2020, three EIPR staff were detained for several days on unfounded terrorism charges after meeting with European diplomats about Egypt’s human rights crisis.
In November 2021, the Egyptian authorities fined Hossam Bahgat10,000 Egyptian pounds (around 636 USD) for “insulting the Elections Authority,” “spreading false news,” and “using a social media account to commit these crimes” in response to a tweet he posted criticizing the former head of Egypt’s National Elections Authority.
Egypt’s human rights record is due to be reviewed by the UN Human Rights Council’s Universal Periodic Review on 28 January 2025.
Distributed by APO Group on behalf of Amnesty International.
