Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE)

The harsh sentence handed down in absentia by the Cairo Criminal Court against Alaa Abdel Fattah, Ahmed Abdel Rahman, Wael Metwally and 22 others is a severe violation of the right to a fair trial.

Egypt’s Supreme Council of Universities has issued several restrictive decisions including the imposing of restrictions on the right to protest, prohibiting electoral campaigns on campuses and the irrevocable expulsion of students who contributes to acts of disrupting or undermining academic process.

The violent political transitions the country witnessed during 2013 had a greatly negative impact on the status of freedom of thought and expression.

Egypt has been through turbulent times since the uprisings against the Mubarak regime. Artistic expression has exploded, regimes have come and gone, but the legislation and practices of censorship boards have remained intact.

Journalist and editor Ali Anouzla was arrested on 17 September 2013 in connection with a 13 September news article published on the Arabic edition of news website Lakome. Ahead of a Rabat court hearing scheduled on 18 February, local and international rights organisations came together to call for the charges against him to be dropped.

On 25 January 2014, as people protested in commemoration of Egypt’s January 2011 revolution, journalists and photographers across the country were being attacked by both members of the public and security forces after being accused of working with Al Jazeera, although most of them were not affiliated to the Qatari broadcaster.

Following the criminalisation of peaceful protest in Egypt in November 2013, 57 organisations and individuals release joint statement against arrests of Egyptian bloggers and political activists.

On 22 December 2013, the Abdeen Court in Egypt issued a verdict against three activists who were integral to the 25 January revolution to three years in jail and a 50,000 Egyptian pounds [US$7180] fine.