The Fifth edition of Mesaha magazine

MESAHA Magazine

ISSUE 5

English Version

Batman Helwan case.

The families of 4 young prisoners demand their release: a year of imprisonment for just being "Sarcastic"

17 and 20 years old .. The beginning was a "joke" and ended with accusations of terrorism.

Families call on the Attorney General to release their children: It is enough; they spent a year of their lives in prisons.

Lawyers published a direct appeal from the families of a number of young people imprisoned in the case known informatively as "Batman Helwan", more than a year after they were detained by decisions of the Supreme State Security Prosecutor. According to the letter, it began with a "mockery" of the youth accounts on the social media site Facebook, inviting a gathering on the birthday of the representative of the legendary "Batman" in the Helwan area.

The message added: "The joke was promoted and disseminated by all artists, especially those with thousands of followers and influence, and was thus disseminated through all media and electronic newspapers and exploited and commercially promoted the joke as well."

The letter affirmed that young people arrested in this case "have no political attitudes, affiliation or activity and no political publication has been addressed from near or far in this advocacy, and we have made all apologies and pledges not to repeat the matter but without any response".

"Suddenly, we are confronted with the horrors of prisons, our childrens’ future is lost, our lives are threatened and our homes are transformed into constant sorrows, with their mothers' hearts burned and confined and the 1

fire of parting their dear children." The letter called for amnesty for young people in custody, assistance in their release, an attempt to end their families' suffering, and a year and a half of imprisonment.

On 4 July 2022, the security forces arrested Anas Mahmoud Zahran, Karim Mohamed Rafat, Mazin Reza, and Islam Najdi, aged between 18 and 22, and were held in custody in case No. 440 of 2022.

Their arrest came because of their participation in a satirical call to the "Battle of Batman Helwan", which included wearing a "Batman" costume and gathering in front of Helwan metro station on August 13 to determine the winner of the real Batman title. They face charges of joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and inciting a terrorist act.

The Supreme State Security Prosecutor charged Najdi with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and inciting a terrorist act. Egyptian human rights institutions had called on the Egyptian authorities to close Cases 440 and 441 of 2022 which restricted the security of the Supreme State, especially because they included journalists, bloggers, and social media activists.

In a joint statement at the time, the institutions said that the detention of the accused in both cases was "against the backdrop of a single indictment based on national security investigations, despite the diversity of their areas of work, the circumstances and timing of their arrest and the circumstances of their investigation".

The organizations called for the closure of the cases and the immediate release of all those accused, the cessation of charges of membership of a terrorist group - without specifying them - and the dissemination of false news on social media, to punish anyone who proceeds to exercise his or her natural right to express his or her opinion, or who participates in criticism or analysis in public affairs cases, according to the joint statement.

2

As the school year approaches Students and parents are suffering immensely from the soaring prices of the price study books.

Deputies applying for briefings. An educational expert warns against the persistence of the situation.

Students and parents have a problem with the high prices of the extra study and activities books, MPs have submitted requests for parliamentary briefings and questions on the phenomenon, and experts have called for solutions to the crisis. In turn, MP Mohammed Abdullah Zainuddin, a member of the House of Representatives, announced his presentation of a parliamentary question to Chancellor Hanafi Jabali, President of the House, addressed to the Prime Minister and Minister of Education, on the reasons behind using more activity books that are not printed by the ministry books.

In his question, the MP said that the recent period had seen significant neglect by students of textbooks and total reliance on extra non-governmental books, which had led to the exploitation of the publishing role of these books to increase their prices excessively until the price of one book exceeded about 700 pounds in the current year.

The government incurs billions in printing textbooks every year, the result remains in the drawers, and students rely mainly on books from other resources. According to estimates, the total cost of printing the books for the academic year 2022/2023 was about 1.550 billion pounds. The libraries that do the printing also demanded an increase given the high costs of printing, primarily papers, which are heavily dependent on imports from abroad.

The Deputy said that the total reliance on external books and the neglect of the Ministry's books had caused the spread of a mafia and a black market that exploited students' need to set prices as they wished away from the oversight of the Ministry of Education.

3

If all these financial allocations go to printing textbooks, why would students go to external resources and books? Has the Ministry of Education become unable to print textbooks that can compensate for external books in terms of content, explanation, and clarification?

Why does the Ministry of Education not use external book experts to develop the Ministry's curriculum? He stressed the need to work to alleviate the suffering of the Egyptian family in the educational process which includes the private lessons and the external books while there is a clear disappearance of the school's role.

In turn, the educational expert, Kamal Mughaith, said that the government was printing textbooks of about 3 billion pounds for about 22 million students. Secondary education belongs to less than half a billion pounds.

Recently, with the Government moving towards the tablet system, the Ministry no longer prints textbooks, and the Ministry's books are only available on its website.

Tens of thousands of students do not have a computer, because subscribing to the internet is not possible for everyone, and because printed books are indispensable for memorizing, revision, and classes. He added: "Students have no resources then other than the external books, so students have to buy ten books for large sums.

In a related context, MP Ahmed Abdussalam Qorah, a member of the House of Representatives, announced his presentation of a parliamentary question to Chancellor Hanafi Jabali, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, to address Dr. Reza Hijazi, Minister of Education, saying that a state of anger and resentment among parents because of the high prices of external books for the new school year 2023/2024.

Deputy Dr. Reza Hejazi called for the highest priority to be given to the development of all educational curricula at all levels of basic education so that students do not need to buy external books after the prices of external books rise crazily and become a major financial problem for pupils and their families.

In his question, the MP stated: Did Egyptian university experts and professors fail to develop the curriculum in such a way as not to result in pre-university students using external books? Who is responsible for the spread of this serious phenomenon, which threatens any development and modernization of educational curricula because its persistence confirms the failure of educational curriculum development and modernization policies?

Are external books reviewed by the Ministry of Education? Who sets their prices? Scientific materials must be genuinely controlled within external books. The Ministry wrote as soon as the pupils receive them from the first grade to the third grade, they are placed inside the house and are not used at all, but everyone resorts to external books and even teachers themselves rely on teaching the curriculum from these books. In order to develop curricula, agree on the existence of textbooks only and close the door to exterior books.

4

Obstacles to freedom of the press Journalists looking for laws supporting the "fourth power”.

Demands to abolish penalties for deprivation of liberty, amend remand in custody, and promulgate the Information Circulation Act

The work of the press is regulated by a package of laws that provide it with a space of freedom and creativity, for the exercise of the profession's work without obstacles. But the reality is the opposite. Egypt's press faces countless violations, including the imprisonment of journalists, the blocking of sites by unidentified entities, and finally restrictive laws on journalistic work.

Here we present the most prominent laws that stand before the press. Although they are supposed to regulate the work of journalists and give them a range of freedom, laws just further limit the journalists' freedom.

Media Regulation Act One of the laws restricting the operation of the press is Act No. 180 of 2018 on the organization of the press and the media and the Supreme Council for the Organization of the Media. The Act gives the Council the power to impose penalties on each personal website, personal blog or personal electronic account, once it has 5 thousands of followers or more.

The law also defines the competence of the Supreme Council for Information, in accordance with article 70, which gives it the right to express an opinion on draft laws and regulations relating to its field of work, as well as to establish and regulate the practice of media work and to develop the Professional Honour Charter in 5

conjunction with the relevant union. However, these powers, which the law gave the highest level of information, at the time created a crisis between the Supreme Council for Information and the Media Union.

The law was published in the Official Gazette on 27 August 2018, after years of preparation and preparation, and several sessions were held by the competent authorities, both the Journalists' Union and the House of Representatives, as well as the elders of the profession and all the authorities involved in the law.

Sanctions Regulation Following the enactment of the Act, the Council issued a regulation of sanctions that may be imposed on those subjects to the Act's provisions. Article 5 of the Regulations provides the right of the Supreme Council for the Regulation of Information to prohibit the publication of information material in the event of a violation of the law and regulations.

Article 6 of the Regulations gives the Council the right to withhold the website, and to withdraw licenses for conducting satellite broadcasts from the media in case of broadcasting information material previously approved by the Council. The Council imposed fines of up to 250 thousand pounds for media offenses and 5 million pounds if intellectual property rights were infringed, in accordance with Article 26 of the Council's Regulation.

Combating information crime Also restricting press freedom is the Law on Combating IT Crimes, published in the Official Gazette, on August 14, 2018, allowing it to block any published content that may pose a threat to national security without specifying the type of article published or the place of publication.

This is stated in Article 7 of the Act, which stipulates that sites inside or outside the country may be blocked if any content considered an offense under the Act is published, provided that it constitutes a threat to national security or endangers the country's security or national economy, through the competent commission of inquiry.

In Article 5 of the Act, the Minister of Justice, in agreement with the Minister of Communications and Information Technology, is entitled to grant judicial discipline to employees of the National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority or others designated by the National Security Services for offenses committed in violation of the Act. Information Trading Law While some laws restricting the operation of the press have been monitored, there are still laws that call for their swift promulgation to operate without restriction or restrictions and to facilitate journalists' work without interception or disruption. The Law on the Circulation of Information is one of the laws that journalists have demanded to be promulgated quickly and has not been passed to date, despite numerous sessions and discussions by competent authorities on the law.

In 2017, the committee formed by the Supreme Council for Information finalized the draft information circulation bill, which was sent by the then Speaker to the Prime Minister and the House of Representatives, but was not discussed.

6

In press statements, Dr. Hoda Zakaria, Chairman of the Committee for the Preparation of the Freedom of Information Bill at the Top Media, revealed some features of the project consisting of 6 sections according to her statements.

The Act is competent to clarify the concept of disclosure, availability of information, and mechanisms for obtaining it. In addition to addressing fines for withholding information from 5 thousand Egyptian pounds to 20 thousand pounds. In September 2021, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi launched the National Human Rights Strategy, the first of which adopted a law regulating the right to information, but so far the law has not been passed.

Proposals to the "National Dialogue" The proposals of the Journalists' Union are as follows: to amend the legislation governing the press and media to strengthen the independence of press institutions, facilitate the performance of their professional duties by journalists, lift the restrictions imposed by some articles of those laws on freedom of opinion and expression, and improve the remuneration of professionals commensurate with the nature of their duty and recent inflation rates.

Proposals for national dialogue also included: The enactment of the Freedom of Information Act to enforce article 68 of the Constitution, which stipulates: "Information, data, statistics and official documents belong to the people. right guaranteed by the State to every citizen ". and the government is obliged to provide them and make them available to citizens in a transparent manner ", provided that the union is present, participating and participating in the discussions prior to the enactment of this law.

In a statement, the Council announced that it had decided to draft a number of proposals submitted by a number of members of the General Assembly in three themes (legislative, professional, and economic) for the National Dialogue.

Among the proposals for legislation: the enactment of the Law on the Abolition of Penalties for Deprivation of Liberty in Publishing and Public Matters, in the enforcement of article 71 of the Constitution, which stipulates that "No penalty shall be imposed for the deprivation of liberty for offenses committed through publication or publicity. Offenses relating to incitement to violence or discrimination between citizens or challenging individual symptoms shall be determined by law."

The union also proposed amending the preventive detention articles of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which transformed the precautionary measure into a penalty for many journalists and opinion holders over the past years as well as reviewing laws that open the door to withholding.

Review restrictions and legal controls on free issuance contrary to the Constitution and review the concentration of ownership of media organizations by several companies in contravention of the articles of the Antitrust Act and the Media and Press Regulation Act. The lifting of restrictions on press and media institutions that highlight diversity and help to create content that is appropriate for the Egyptian and Arab recipient.

7

Reform and rehabilitation centres in Egypt: your guide to establishing a notorious good-looking prison.

The end of 2021 saw the opening of a number of new reform and rehabilitation centres in conjunction with the launch of the National Human Rights Strategy. In September 2021, the Ministry of the Interior held a celebration of the opening of the so-called largest prison complex in Egypt in the Wadi El Natrun region. "A New Start" to announce the launch of the Reform and Rehabilitation Centre in Badr City, which includes three rehabilitation centres.

Despite the Egyptian authorities' attempt to promote prison complexes and correction and rehabilitation centres as a new beginning to resolve the crisis of poor living conditions in prisons, since the beginning of the Badr prison complex, news and leaked messages about mistreatment and ongoing violations of inmates in Badr 3 prison are growing.

In addition to preventing inmates from visiting and correspondence with their relatives, preventing any means of communication with the outside world, as well as preventing the introduction of many foods, clothing, textbooks, and toiletries. This, in turn, led prisoners, according to leaked messages, to organize a mass strike.

This is what the prison administration has faced according to testimony of violence, excessive use of force and arbitrary action against prisoners.

This contradiction can highlight the way in which the Egyptian Government deals with prison files and conditions of detention, in particular the debasement of political and legal prisoners of conscience and opponents of the Government, where the Egyptian State continues to pay greater attention to formal achievements without taking real action to prevent the violation of prisoners' rights.

On September 15, 2021, President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced in a telephone statement on Egyptian television with the media Yusuf Husseini the establishment of a new prison complex in Wadi El Natrun to provide livelihoods and medical and humanitarian care to detainees and their relatives in a human way. And that this complex will be one between 7 and 8 prisons that will be designed in American style.

8

According to the published testimonies of a number of lawyers and prisoners' families and the secret messages of the prisoners themselves from inside Badr 3 prison, the conditions inside the prison are deadly in their description. From overcrowding to cell capacity, through cases of physical and psychological torture, as well as medical negligence as well as preventing prisoners from receiving visits from their families inadmissibility of books, medicines, and other violations of prisons by prison authorities, especially politicians This led a number of Badr 3 prisoners to resort to mass strikes, suicide attempts, and self-harm in an effort to rid themselves of cruel treatment within the prison.

According to information on violations within Badr 3 prison, the harsh and inhumane conditions of detention have not changed from those of other notorious prisons such as Scorpion Prison, for example, but represent an extension of the Ministry of Interior's handling of prisons with its detainees. The propaganda of these correction and rehabilitation centers as a step to improve prisoners' conditions is a propaganda review and the punitive philosophy of prison departments and staff based primarily on intransigence and ill-treatment of prisoners will continue to govern all places of detention whether they are called public prisons or correctional and rehabilitation centres.

In the light of these testimonies from prisoners inside Badr 3 prison, which reveal violations committed by the prison administration, as usual, the Ministry of the Interior has not delayed by issuing press releases to deny those facts as if they were a revelation of the prisoners' imagination, This clearly indicates that the security authorities' way of dealing with places and institutions of detention will not change It should therefore be noted that Egypt's detention institutions need a fundamental change in the way prisoners are treated from the point of view of a prisoner as a human being who enjoys rights that cannot be violated or compromised.

Finally, the conditions of detention institutions in Egypt need not only to take formal and propaganda steps that do not imply a genuine will to change the prison authorities' handling of prisoners. and that changing terminology and nomenclature does not necessarily guarantee the dignity of prisoners, Therefore, if the Egyptian authorities are to take positive steps towards prisoners' files and conditions of detention in Egypt, they must abide by the legal and constitutional standards guaranteeing prisoners their rights and ensuring that members of the security services are held accountable if they engage in violations against prisoners.

9

UN: Incidents of sexual abuse have risen by 50% since the beginning of Sudan's conflict.

The UNFPA Regional Director, Laila Baker, expressed grave concern about Sudan's growing crisis, emphasizing the plight of more than 4 million people in need as the conflict has continued for 4 months.

Baker highlighted the alarming rise in sexual violence and categorically condemned acts such as war crimes and crimes against humanity, stressing that reported incidents of sexual assault had risen by 50% since the beginning of the Sudan conflict. around 260 thousand women were now pregnant and some 100 thousand were expected to give birth in the next three months, adding that without critical services, including hospitals and safe delivery, "their lives, those of their babies and infants who will be the future generation are in grave danger".

In a statement, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, warned: "The catastrophic and senseless war in Sudan, born out of the mercy of a reckless campaign of power, has resulted in thousands of deaths, destruction of family homes, schools, hospitals, and other essential matters.

10

The Tunisian Journalists' Union calls on President Kais Saied to "respect the independence of the media": it even interferes with the arrangement of paragraphs of news bulletins

The Tunisian Journalists' Union, President Kais Saied of the Republic, demanded respect for the independence of the media after meeting with the director of state television. The union said that "the President even enters into the arrangement of the paragraphs of newsletters, media content, and guests in the programs in a dangerous precedent to which no other person has submitted". This intervention falls within the entire context of censorship of public information and multiplicity, diversity, and objectivity.

"Following the blatant intervention of the President of the Republic, Qais Saied in the media and direct intervention in the public media and Tunisian television, which included interference even in the arrangement of the paragraphs of news bulletins, media content and guests in the programs in a dangerous precedent that was not presented to others," the statement said.

She added: "The National Union of Tunisian Journalists is interested in expressing the following: The public information is required to play its fundamental role as a public facility in the service of the State and society and to express people's demands and concerns in the context of providing information and objectivity and adopting the priorities of news, education, and recreation, not just to launch propaganda for the government regardless of its policy" "The intervention of the President of the Republic is part of a whole context of censorship of the public information and has set forth the principle of diversity and objectivity, particularly on Tunisian television and radio and the Tunis Africa

11

News Agency, in addition to the exclusive practices of preventing civil society and political forces from appearing on Tunisian television funded by taxpayers."

12

Abdelalim Dawood Demands Increased Pensions and Additional Incentive: 95% of Citizens Will Apply in "Dignity and Solidarity"

MP Mohammed Abdel Alim Dawood demanded that the additional incentive for employees in the state and pensions be increased to 10%. This came as the MP addressed the plenary session of the House of Representatives on Tuesday, during the debate of a bill submitted by the government to accelerate the date of entitlement to periodic allowances increase the additional incentive for workers in the state, and decide on a special grant for workers in the public sector and the public business sector, and increase civil and military pensions, to be from April 1.

In his speech, the MP said: "We must deal with the logic and reality of the bill. The increase presented is useless and cannot be compared to the size of the soaring prices, the economic crisis, and the depreciation of the Egyptian pound."

He added: "We know that price increases exist in all countries of the world, but handling the matter must be for the sake of Egyptian citizens," noting that 95% of citizens are willing to apply to the program "Solidarity and Dignity -Takafol wa Karama" in these situations, which requires actions that stand for Egyptian citizens.

13

The Egyptian Centre appeals to the Court of Cassation to request an increase in the value of compensation for the heirs of the martyr, Khaled Saeed

The Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights appealed to the Court of Cairo to reduce the value of compensation for the heirs of Martyr Khaled Saeed in the case of his murder by two policemen by making him 400 thousand pounds, and to reduce the value of the inherited compensation by 100 thousand pounds, totalling 500 thousand pounds instead of 1 million pounds, in the first instance.

In a statement, Mohamed Abdeladim, the lawyer of the Egyptian Centre, said that the Centre, as an agent for the heirs of martyr Khaled Saeed, demanded an increase in the amount of compensation, reversal of the contested judgement, and referral of the case for renewed consideration before the High Court of Appeal Cairo High Court north of Cairo in a different body, while the appeals are obliged.

Abdeladim added that the Court decided in the appeals judgement to reduce the amount of compensation on the ground of overstatement, this is corrupt in reasoning and contradictory in reasoning. How did the Court confide in its belief that the amount of compensation awarded - a mere 1 million pounds - was overstated without giving reasons or reviewing the extent of the damage suffered by the plagiarists or clarifying the truth in assessing material damage and moral damage to the appellants or evidence of elements of overstatement of compensation from the court of first instance.

The Court ruled to amend the appellant's judgement in the award of compensation for material and moral damages by making it 400 thousand pounds and reducing the value of the inherited compensation by 100 thousand pounds. for a total of 500 thousand pounds instead of 1 million pounds, in the first grade The Court granted the appeal against the Ministry of Internal Affairs' subsidiary guarantee proceedings against the Secretary and Police Sergeant convicted of the murder of Khaled Saeed and obliged them to pay the interior compensation that it might pay to the heirs of the martyr.

14