This morning, the Passport Administration at Cairo International Airport banned feminist activist and woman human rights defender (WHRD) Mozn Hassan from traveling from Cairo to Beirut to attend and participate in the Executive Committee meeting of the Women Human Rights Defenders (WHRD) Regional Coalition for the Middle East and North Africa, as a Regional Expert for the coalition, taking place during the period 27 June to 1 July 2016.
The travel ban of Mozn Hassan follows a previous interrogation and referral to the judiciary.
Mozn Hassan is a feminist activist and WHRD. She is one of the founders of Nazra for Feminist Studies and its Executive Director. Mozn Hassan has worked on various feminist issues since 2001, including violence against women in the public space, provision of psychological, medical and legal support for survivors from crimes of sexual violence, political parliamentary participation of women and inclusion in decision-making positions in Egypt and the Middle East. Mozn Hassan is a board member of Global Fund for Women (GFW), member of the International Planning Committee of the 13th International Forum of the Association for Women’s Rights in Development (AWID) and recipient of the Charlotte Bunch Women Human Rights Defenders Award in 2013.
EuroMed Rights condemns the harassment of Mozn Hassan for her peaceful activities of defending human rights. This travel ban follows the inclusion of Nazra in the case n°173 for the year 2011, known as the foreign funding case, in the context of steps taken by the Egyptian government to close the public space for civil society organisations.
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