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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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26 January 2010
Alert: Egypt – Authorities arrest bloggers and human rights activists
Contents
1. Alert
2. Action required
1. Alert
On Friday 15 January 2010 Egyptian Security Forces arrested at least 29 activists including bloggers, lawyers and human rights activists.
Some of the names of detainees are; Israa Abdel Fattah, Wael Abbas, Basem Sameer, Basem Fathi, Ahmed Badawi, Sherif Abdel Aziz, Marian Nagy, Mostafa El-Naggar, Roaa Ibrahim, Shahinaz Abdel Salam, Naser Abdel Hamid, Samar Akl, Ahmed Abu Zekri, Ismail El-Eskandarani, Ahmed Fathi El-Badri, Amira El-Tahawi and Mohmed Khaled.
The activists had gone to Naga Hammadi governorate in Egypt to extend condolences to the families of the victims who were shot by an unknown person. Upon their arrival to Naga Hammadi, the police immediately arrested the group and transferred them to the headquarters of the State Security Investigations without making any formal charges against the detainees, according to reliable sources.
Islamic Human Rights Commission believes that the arrests of activists clearly violates the Egyptian Constitution and international covenants on human rights, such as the International Conventions and declarations on Civil and Political Rights (Article9), Universal Declaration of Human Rights (Article 13) and the Declaration on the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (Article 17).
2. Action required
Write to the Egyptian ambassador and the Foreign Minister in your country, requesting them to urge the Egyptian government to investigate the grounds of the arrest and call for the immediate release of the detainees.
a) Minister of foreign affairs in your country.
b) Egyptian Ambassador in your locality.
C) The Foreign Office.
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For more information, please contact the office on the numbers or email below
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“And what reason have you that you should not fight in the way of Allah and of the weak among the men and the women and the children, (of) those who say: Our Lord! Cause us to go forth from this town, whose people are oppressors, and give us from Thee a guardian and give us from Thee a helper.”
Holy Qur’an: Chapter 4, Verse 75
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Islamic Human Rights Commission
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