25 Rights groups: The Belady Foundation case demonstrates that individual and community initiatives face only repression and fabricated charges
Introduction
Less than a year ago, we Women Human Rights Defenders from the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region met to launch our regional coalition, and by that we defied all odds. Since the so called Arab spring, and our region has witnessed an increase in violence and decrease in protecting human rights.
The undersigned organisations call for the immediate and unconditional release of the journalist Hossam Bahgat who has been arbitrarily detained solely for the peaceful expression of his views. Military prosecutors this morning ordered Bahgat’s detention for four days pending interrogation on charges related solely to his writing as a journalist, despite the fact that Article 41 of the Press Law prohibits pretrial detention in publication-related crimes.
A Presidential Pardon (No. 386 for the year 2015) was issued on 23 September 2015 to release 100 prisoners in several cases, including the Ittihadia Presidential Palace Case, which includes 7 WHRDs, from which 6 have been released, while WHRD Nahed Sherif (known as Nahed Bibo) is still detained.
On 23 September 2015, a Presidential Decree was issued, No. 386 for the year 2015, for the complete pardon of 100 detainees for the remainder of their imprisonment verdict and subsequent monitoring, including women human rights defenders (WHRDs) in the case known as the Ittihadia Presidential Palace Case, and the subsequent monitoring of 2 years, namely: Ms. Yara Sallam, Ms. Sanaa Seif, Ms. Samar Ibrahim, Ms. Hanan Mohamed, Ms. Fekreya Mohamed (known as Rania ElSheikh), Ms. Salwa Mihriz and Ms. Nahed Sherif (known as Nahed Bibo).
During the Period from 28 till 30 June 2015, a Sexual Violence Documentation Workshop, has been conducted with a special focus on Libya, Iraq, Yemen, Syria and Sudan, as a tool for advocacy and knowledge production, where 9 WHRDs from these 5 countries attended. The concerned workshop resulted in the agreement on the drafting and publishing of a manual on documentation of sexual violence crimes.
Nazra for Feminist Studies held a regional consultation meeting on the issues of women in politics in the Middle East and North Africa region, between 23- 25th July, 2015 in Beirut, Lebanon.