Last Monday’s hearing in the case of Alaa Abdel Fattah and his co-defendants illustrates again the stifling of freedom of association, assembly and expression in Egypt. The Euro-Mediterranean Human Rights Network (EMHRN) calls again on the Egyptian judiciary to stop arbitrarily detaining those facing prosecution under Egypt’s controversial 2013 Protest Law.
The judges considering Alaa Abdel Fattah’s case ordered that he and his co-defendants remain in custody while their trial continues.
During the hearing, video evidence provided by the prosecution was shown. Alaa Abdel Fattah is accused, amongst other charges, of assaulting a policeman and stealing his walkie-talkie during a protest outside Shura Council. The defendants and their lawyers had not been provided with a copy of any of this these videos before the hearing. Moreover, images of demonstrations shown in the videos were not taken outside Shura Council. The videos were mostly assembled of several images from demonstrations in different places with no clear indication of the date and time of the footage.
The policeman who has accused Alaa of attacking him was shown in several of the videos wearing plain clothes and waving his hands. Yet, there was no evidence of any walkie-talkie in his hands or of any assault or injury. The remainder of the prosecution’s video evidence is to be shown at the next hearing on 23 November.
Although the judge allowed defendants to see their families and lawyers for a short period of time after the hearing, the numerous policemen present in the court room refused to allow this after the judge left. Commotion followed, and the police asked all journalists and EMHRN’s trial observers to leave.
On 11 June, Alaa Abdel Fattah, a prominent figure in the 2011 revolution, was sentenced to 15 years in prison for “participating in a demonstration”, “assaulting a police officer” and “calling for protests”. He was initially arrested on 28 November 2013 and held in pretrial detention for 115 days before the first hearing in his case took place. He was held in detention again for a further 96 days between 11 June and 15 September 2014. He is now back in pretrial detention since 28 October. The excessive use of pre-trial detention violates both Egyptian and international law. A recently published EMHRN Trial Observation Report on Alaa Abdel Fattah’s Case finds that “[Abdel Fattah’s] right to personal liberty and right not to be arbitrarily deprived of his liberty have been breached as well as his right to challenge the lawfulness of his detention without delay.”