After three spells of imprisonment since the start of the revolution, Alaa Abd El Fattah has declared that he is starting a hunger strike. Alaa is one of 25 people who were sentenced to 15 years in prison for attending/organizing a protest in November. A protest in which a policeman who was filmed strangling a young woman fell over and lost his walkie talkie. All 25 men are charged with stealing the walkie talkie. 24 of those men were arrested at the protest at random. Alaa was taken from his house in the middle of the night two days later — he is a regular target of successive Egyptian governments because of his work as a blogger and activist.
20th August 2014
Statement from the Family of Alaa Abd El-Fattah
Alaa is on Hunger Strike: “I will no longer play the role they’ve written for me”.
At 2 o’clock on the morning of Sunday August 17, Alaa visited his father, Ahmad Seif, in the ICU Unit of Qasr el-Eini hospital, after Seif had become unconscious.
Three days earlier we’d been on our latest visit to Alaa in Tora Prison. His father’s health at that point had been relatively good. Since then there had been no way for us to inform him that his father had gone into crisis. And so Alaa arrived at the hospital in the small hours of Sunday happy to be visiting, carrying flowers, looking forward to talking with his father. He found him unconscious in an ICU cubicle.
That spectacle crystalised matters for him. By the end of the few-minute visit Alaa had decided that he would withdraw co-operation with the unjust and absurd sitution he had been put in – even if this cost him his life.
Alaa informed us of his decision when we went to see him next day at Tora. And it has been hard for us, his family. But, ultimately, we understand Alaa’s anger and his frustration, his need to inject something real into the tragic farce he has been made to live. Alaa’s decision is proactive and positive; his action reflects the seriousness of what is happening in his personal life. His action tries to match his pain.
Alaa is in prison for the third time since the beginning of the revolution of January 2011. Each time, the authorities – whichever they were – have charged him with ridiculous, invented crimes. This has cost him a great deal: the authorities have deprived him of being with his wife at the birth of their first child, they separated him from his family, they impeded his professional career in the software company he established. Then they imprisoned his youngest sister, Sanaa, because she demanded – in the Ettehadeyya march July 22 - his freedom and the freedom of all those unjustly detained. And now, finally, they have done that which he cannot bear: they prevented him from being at the side of his father, to support him as he went into open-heart surgery, and they prevented him from visiting until his father fell unconscious.
We, the family and friends of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, hold the authorities responsible for depriving Laila Soueif and Ahmad Seif from the support of their son at this most difficult and dangerous moment in their lives, and we hold them responsible for the safety and well-being of Alaa himself.
Alaa is now on full hunger strike, starting the evening of Monday 18th August and continuing until he achieves his freedom.
Notes: 6
The court convened today for the start of the retrial of Alaa & the Shoura Council 24. Alaa, Noubi and Wael came into the glass box. The glass is smokey. They could hear the hall but the hall couldn’t hear them. So they started playing charades and acting out films and the hall calls back the guesses. 17 other accused came and 5 stayed away.
Then the trial started. Khaled Ali put the whole event in context - that the stand in front of the Shura Council building in November was about pressuring the constitution committee meeting inside to not legitimise the trial of civilians in military courts. Khaled Ali asked to subpoena Amre Moussa and other members of the committee to bear witness re previous discussions. Then the judge switched off the intercom so the defendants inside the box couldn’t hear the defence. So the lawyers suspended their defence and demanded the removal of the judge and that the trial be moved out of the police academy and to a proper court. The judge stopped the proceedings and reserved the 10th September for the next hearing. But he ratified the 15-year sentence against the 5 defendants who had not come to court.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights is shocked by today’s decision by the Heliopolis Misdemeanor Court to keep the organization’s transitional justice officer, Yara Sallam, and 22 others behind bars,
Maheinour el Massry leading a defiant protest chant from inside her courtroom cage on Saturday.
Authorities accused of purging opposition on opening day of court case over illegal protest
The trial of the 24 people kept prisoner after last Saturday’s #noprotestlaw march was attacked by the police began today. Instead of reviewing the case for bail as is customary after arrest, the case was expedited to trial. Today, the trial was due to take place at the New Cairo Courthouse - which is nominally accessible to friends and family. But it was announced on the morning that instead the case would be heard at the Police Academy inside the Tora maximum security prison. Families of the detainees were not allowed in, and it was a significant struggle for even lawyers and journalists to gain access. It was announced that photography would not be allowed and one journalist who tried to take a photograph had his equipment confiscated and was removed from the courtroom.
The defendants were by all accounts defiant and in good spirits. They chanted together against the government, the police and the protest law to signal they would not be silenced.
Sanaa and Yara in the courtroom cage now. #noprotestlaw pic.twitter.com/0EVe50rEIy
— Omar Robert Hamilton (@ORHamilton)June 29, 2014
This generation knows no fear..the detained are chanting against SCAF & freedom for the detained while waiting for the verdict #noprotestlaw
— Gigi Ibrahim (@Gsquare86)June 29, 2014
Lawyers send world cup news to the protesters. @sana2 told that Brazil has qualified and that @alaa case will be heard on 22 #noprotestlaw
— Lina Attalah (@Linaattalah)June 29, 2014
The defendants lawyers outlined the case for why the defendants should be released on bail for the duration of the trial. The judge heard the arguments and then retired.
After about an hour and a half word then came through that the judge had left and had told the Courtroom Guard to inform the lawyers that the case was to be postponed until September 13th.
There is currently some confusion about whether the Guard got his information right - as it would be more fitting for the case’s next session to be heard on July 13th. The lawyers are seeking confirmation now.
The farce trial of #noprotestlaw protesters: The judge left courthouse before reading the verdict, sent someone to inform lawyers. #Egypt
— Mina Fayek (@minafayek)June 29, 2014
#Egypt judges arrive hours late, wear sunglasses in court, leave w/out announcing decisions…destroying their credibility all on their own.
— Yasmin El-Rifae (@yasminelrifae)June 29, 2014
No courage, no procedure, no integrity. A cowardly, petty, vindictive regime. Everyone will stay in prison over summer. #noprotestlaw
— Ahdaf Soueif (@asoueif)June 29, 2014
So Egypt’s judiciary postpones an expedited trial. Is it even worth asking someone to explain? #noprotestlaw
— Khalid Abdalla (@khalidabdalla)June 29, 2014
UPDATE: June 30th. The next court session will be September 13th.
اكيد: جلسة الاتحادية اتأجلت ل 13 سبتمبر .. و القاضي هرب عشان كان اجبن من انه يقول القرار ده وش لوش
— Mona Seif (@Monasosh)June 30, 2014
The protest law passed by Hazem al-Beblawi’s government last year has proven to be as draconian and dangerous as many critics predicted.
Maheinour el Massry in court yesterday, June 28th.
Date set for the verdict on Maheinour al Massry’s appeal
“Each one of us, after this experience of the revolution, has something to say,” said Sanaa Seif, on February 18, 2011, on Democracy Now, in response to a question by Sharif Abdel Koddous.
الحرية ليارا سلام وسناء سيف وكل الذين تم اعتقالهم أثناء مسيرة سلمية مطالبة بإسقاط قانون التظاهرة يوم…
Overnight sit in outside Heliopolis courthouse demanding the release of the prisoners held since Saturday’s march.
Egyptian authorities should immediately release activists detained for peacefully protesting Egypt’s assembly law, Human Rights Watch said today. The government should revoke the law or amend it to conform with international standards.
This collection is being regularly updated and now includes posters for some of the detainees from the #noprotestlaw march on Saturday. Check back for further updates.