Mohammed Basheer, Administrative Director; Karim Ennarah, Director of Criminal Justice, and Gasser Abdel-Razek, Executive Director, were detained on Sunday 15, Tuesday 17 and Thursday 19 November by national security forces. They are charged with “belonging to an unidentified terrorist organization” and “financing terrorism.” We are concerned about the growing use of anti-terrorism laws to intimidate and criminalize social organizations.
Karim, Gasser and other members of EIPR have visited Argentina on more than one occasion to coordinate actions between human rights organizations with CELS. They toured the Parque de la Memoria and visited the Abuelas de Plaza de Mayo to learn about their experience. They consider Argentina and its struggle for memory, truth and justice as an example and a source of inspiration.
We regret that the persecution of human rights defenders continues to occur in Egypt and other parts of the world. We demand that the government of Egypt ends the persecution against EIPR and the arbitrary arrests of its members. We call on the Argentine government and the international community to show solidarity with the situation and to ask for the immediate release of Gasser, Karim and Mohammed and the dismissal of the criminal cases initiated against them.