By Diana B Sayed Thursday 6 November 2014
Photo: Luckily for president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the world's attention has been elsewhere. (AFP: Mohamed El-Shahed)
With the world's focus squarely on Islamic State, it's easy to forget about an Egypt still reeling in the post-Mubarak, post-Morsi era. But this week provides an opportunity to speak out against the continuing injustice, writes Diana B Sayed.
I met Yara Sallam in September 2012 to interview her for a series of profiles I was writing on the work of prominent human rights defenders following the Arab Spring.
Just 26 at the time, the well-spoken human rights lawyer bravely described to me her goal to build on the gains made during the 18 days of revolution in Cairo's Tahrir Square in 2011, especially in the realm of women's rights - an area of work she specialised in.
But despite the quiet confidence in her voice, Yara was well aware that her nation was still deeply unsettled.
"Working for human rights organisations is not as legal as everyone thinks it is in Egypt, everyone in this field is working knowing that he or she can be arrested for any random reason ranging from taking foreign funding, defamation or threatening national security," she told me.
Fast forward two years, and Yara's fears for human rights workers are being played out in reality.
Late last month, Yara, well-known activist Sanaa Ahmed Seif and 21 others were sentenced to three years in jail by an Egyptian criminal court.
Their alleged crime? Taking part in a peaceful protest march and therefore breaking Egypt's draconian protest laws - which give authorities the power to cancel or reroute proposed demonstrations, use excessive force during peaceful unauthorised protests, and detain peaceful demonstrators.
Yara was not even taking part in the protest - she says she was simply buying a bottle of water nearby when she was rounded up by a group of men in civilian clothes.
But her evidence and pleas were ignored when sentences were handed down by the Heliopolis Court of Misdemeanours, convened inside an annex of Cairo's Tora Prison.
Lawyers for the defendants said that during the final two court hearings, their clients could not hear the proceedings or communicate with their legal team because a tinted glass screen had been installed, cutting them off from the rest of the courtroom.
Which is an apt description of Egypt right now - screened off from reality.
Luckily for president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, the world's attention has been squarely focused on Iraq, Syria and the rise of Islamic State as of late, meaning it has been easy to forget about an Egypt still reeling in the post-Mubarak, post-Morsi era.
Isolated cases, like the imprisonment of Australian journalist Peter Greste and his two Al Jazeera colleagues Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed, have drawn international indignation - but Egypt has largely been off the world's agenda.
That will change to an extent this week, however, with Egypt's smaller voices having a chance to be heard on a global scale when the country comes before the United Nations Human Rights Council for its Universal Periodic Review (UPR).
One of the strongest reports made to the UPR comes from the Forum of Independent Egyptian Human Rights Organizations, comprising 19 organisations including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies and the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights - Yara's employer.
The report states that despite Egyptians' repeated demands for freedom, social justice, and human dignity, a severe lack of political will continues to be the main reason for the deterioration of rights and freedoms.
According to the report, all of the successive governments since 2011 have violated various rights including freedom of peaceful assembly, freedom of association, and freedom of expression:
In the four years covered ... the right to life was flagrantly violated due to the policies of arbitrary violence meted out by security sector forces, especially in their dispersion of sit-ins and protests and in their disproportionate use of lethal weapons, which resulted in the deaths of thousands.
Amnesty International's report to the UPR simply states: "Today, human rights in Egypt are in crisis".
For his part, President al-Sisi has given a nod to human rights, telling the United Nations earlier this year that the "new Egypt" would respect freedom of speech, enforce the rule of law, respect the constitution and ensure the independence of the judiciary.
Yara and the 22 others sentenced last month would probably beg to differ, as would the three imprisoned Al Jazeera journalists, Peter, Mohamed and Baher.
As occurred under former presidents Mubarak and Morsi, al-Sisi's government has undermined the rule of law by manipulating the legislative and judicial system, using it selectively to repress opponents and ensure impunity for offenders.
Which is why Western governments, including Australia, must use this week's UPR to resoundingly denounce Egypt's decision to unjustly prosecute and imprison human rights workers and journalists for merely doing their job.
Egypt must listen and finally learn the crucial lesson from the Arab Awakening: that the voices of the masses are too loud to be quashed.
Yara said it best to me in September 2012:
I dream of [an] Egypt that is free from torture, ruled by the law that is equally applied to all its citizens ... and I dream of Egypt that is inclusive [of] all its diversities.
Diana B Sayed is Amnesty International Australia's crisis campaigner. View her full profile here.
What about Egypt? The forgotten revolution - The Drum (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)
