Brussels 11/01/17 – EuroMed Rights strongly condemns today’s decision of Cairo Criminal Court that ruled to freeze the assets of woman human rights defender (WHRD) and feminist activist Ms. Mozn Hassan, and those of her NGO, Nazra for Feminist Studies. Cairo Criminal Court has also decided to freeze the assets of Mohamed Zaree and Atef Hafez of the Arab Penal Reform Organisation.
This is not the first episode of harassment against Mozn Hassan, a travel ban being already imposed on her by the Egyptian authorities in June 2016.
This ruling is the latest in a series of measures taken against human rights defenders in Egypt, under the ambit of the infamous Case 173 of 2011, commonly known as the “NGO Foreign Funding case”. This decision entails the physical closure of the NGO Nazra for Feminist Studies.
This systematic crackdown by the Egyptian government is very worrying and may bring about the complete eradication of the human rights community in Egypt.
EuroMed Rights urges the international community, including the EU, to raise the case of Mozn Hassan urgently with Egyptian authorities, and to end the harassment and intimidation of human rights defenders, including through arbitrary arrests, interrogations, travel bans, asset freeze and closure orders, etc.
