Brussels, 8 November 2017 – Following today’s decision by the Cairo court of cassation to uphold the five-year prison sentence for the blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, EuroMed Rights’ President Michel Tubiana said:
“It is a dark day today in Egypt for the whole community of activists and human rights defenders. Once again, Egyptian authorities have proved to be relentless against human rights, notably freedom of expression. Striving for democracy, Alaa Abdel Fattah has already been detained for three and a half years. Alaa Abdel Fattah will soon have to face a second case for the publication of a tweet questioning Egypt’s judiciary independence. We will follow his case and his hearing that will take place in December together with the cases of many other detained human rights defenders and activists. Dissenting voices are suffering from a systematic crackdown in Egypt.”
Alaa Abdel Fattah, a Free Open Source Software developer and human rights activist, has been at the forefront of the struggle for change in Egypt for many years. Arrested on 25 April 2014 he is currently serving a five-year sentence in a maximum-security prison for “organising a protest” against military trials for civilians. This case, monitored by EuroMed Rights, is considered as an unfair trial, particularly given the undue delays endured by the detainee.
Follow the latest news on Alaa Abdel Fattah here: #EGYPT #DetainNoMore and support the 25 Days to #FreeAlaa campaign.