The second edition of Mesaha magazine

MESAHA Magazine

ISSUE 2 English Version

He wrote his last will and asked God for a good end for his Life

even sentencing by an extraordinary court

Aboul Fotouh 's family expresses fears and concerns about his life due to deteriorating health

He had many clots and angina more than once.

Different photos of one person act as a mirror, reflecting the amount of crisis he is experiencing; in one photo, he leans on another person showing how he is unable to walk, and in another one, he is sitting in a chair because of his inability to move or stand- numerous footages reflecting the amount of crisis he is experiencing. His dull face and debilitating features are the common factors in all these images, no matter how much he tries to reassure those around him- All of them reveal the magnitude of the violations he faced, and paint a

full and true picture of how much crisis Dr. Abdel-Moneim Aboul Fotouh, head of the Strong Egypt Party, is experiencing imprisonment ", and the former presidential candidate who had tasted the bitterness of injustice for 4 years or more, the time he spent inside his confinement in a cell alone.

In February 2018, security forces arrested Dr. Abdel-Moneim Aboul Fotouh after he returned from abroad, after recording television encounters with some satellite channels. With his experience, Aboul Fotouh who is 70 years old, might have expected to pay the price for talking about the country's situation bearing in mind how politicians face growing restrictions, but he returned to Egypt with courage because he was well aware of what he was doing.

However, he never expected his detention to be prolonged, and to face a series of violations inside the prison, especially since his talk about the country's conditions is not new and his criticism of certain actions and policies is normal because of his work in politics and his position as president of the party "Egypt Movement." Since the first day of his detention, Aboul Fotouh has been confined since 2018 to a solitary cell. From time to time, his family complains about preventing visits or certain requests and responses to him, as well as about the deterioration of his health. On his last visit, his family revealed that he had "written his last will" and asked God for a good end.

The first picture shown for Aboul Fotouh reflects how tired he is long after he was imprisoned sitting on a bench suffering from health conditions, standing next to him, a prominent politician and the party's Vice-President, Mohammed El-Qassas. Regarding the details of the photo, lawyer Ahmed Abul-Ela Madi, a member of Aboul Fotouh 's defence

body, commented: "After 3 years and 9 months, Aboul Fotouh appeared wearing back support belts, especially as he was not strong to move or stand, and denied the accusations against him by saying they were fabricated allegations."

Aboul Fotouh’s Defence Authority member explained that the security did not allow any of the accused's families or lawyers to stand by them, and only saw them from behind a reflective glass cage isolating sounds. This photo was shown after the first trial of Aboul Fotouh, Mohammed El-Qassas, Moa 'az al-Sharqawi and others, which came after nearly 4 years in pretrial detention.

The first trial is to be held on 24 November 2022, but from one adjournment to another, the Criminal Court decided to close the curtain on the trial hearings of Aboul Fotouh and all the co-accused ones.

On May 29, 2022, the Emergency State Security Criminal Court sentenced Dr. Aboul Fotouh, head of the "Strong Egypt" party, to 15 years of imprisonment and 10 years for Mohammed El-Qasses, vice president of the party, and Moaz al-Sharqawi. The Tribunal also sentenced the three accused to five years' probation after serving their term of imprisonment. "

The case for which Aboul Fotouh was being tried stems from case No. 440 of 2018, which confined the security of the Supreme State, which was referred to and obtained the following emergency state security offences No. 1059. The referral decision stated that the indicted offences of Aboul Fotouh and the others, go back to incidents from 1992 until 21 August 2018.

The Department of Public Prosecutions decided to refer the case papers to the court in August 2021, after Aboul Fotouh was released but still involved in the case, and also after rotating El-Qassas on case 440. Following the judgement, 7 Egyptian human rights institutions, in a

joint statement, called upon the President of the Republic not to ratify the Criminal and Misdemeanour Court's emergency State Security decisions against Aboul-Fotouh, Mohamed El-Qassas, and Moaz al-Sharqawi, and to pardon them.

In their statement, the human rights institutions stated that these sentences "are made by extraordinary courts that do not respect minimum guarantees of a fair trial and cannot be challenged; it is a reflection of the persistence of the approach of subversion and reprisals against politicians. " The organizations are: "Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, Egyptian Office for Rights and Freedoms, El Nadeem Centre, Egyptian Front for Human Rights, Women's Issues Foundation, Freedom of Thought and Expression Foundation, Committee for Justice".

Since his arrest, he has faced violations and suffers from several diseases that worsen with poor conditions inside the prison, as well as the prison administration's intransigence in providing medical care or transferring him to a hospital outside the prison. On 27 June 2019, the Aboul Fotouh Defence Authority communicated with the Attorney General under No. 8840 of 2019, requesting urgent intervention to save him from deliberate medical negligence within his confinement at Al-Mazraa prison in Tora, in contravention of both the Prison Organization Act and its regulations.

The former presidential candidate had been subjected to two cardiac crises over two consecutive days, one in solitary confinement in Al-Mazraa prison of Tura, and the other in the presence of national security officers and investigators, after being transferred to a super-maximum-security prison (2), in which he was given an expanding medication to the heart muscle's arteries.

He also suffers from a range of chronic diseases such as diabetes and pressure, serious spinal health problems, vertebral inflammation and severe prostate enlargement requiring urgent surgical intervention. It did not happen and with medical neglect, inflammation increased dramatically, resulting in severe congestion, negative effects on the kidneys and bladder, and difficulty during urination.

Over the past period, Aboul-Fotouh 's family renewed their demands for his release due to his poor health conditions, after learning of another heart attack on August 3, 2022. The family's demands came after the last letter they obtained from Aboul-Fotouh, on September 5, in which he wrote his will, explaining how AL-Mazraa prison administration dealt with the recent crisis, where they just merely gave him vasodilators until his condition stabilized without regard for his condition, especially because he had previously suffered heart attacks and had not been properly treated.

He informed his family of the prison doctors' refusal to write medical recommendations requiring him to be transferred to the hospital despite the fact that they were aware of his severe and urgent need to do so while following up on his condition which was getting worse.

Following his family's demands for his release due to his deteriorating health condition, a number of organizations, human rights activists, lawyers and politicians stressed his family's demands and the need for his immediate release, through the launch of a statement and a signature campaign to demand President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's health release. The organizations noted a life-threatening risk and likely suffered from some heart arteries as a result of several coronary clots, after suddenly experiencing heart attacks, accompanied by severe pain for longer periods, without any physical effort before them.

In addition to being denied treatment, he is also deprived of his rights as a prisoner, such as the right to be sick in the air and the sun according to the prison regulations, resulting in a herniated disk inside his confinement. He was detected through the prison doctor, who recommended regular physiotherapy sessions, but was unable to obtain them because he was prevented from using the physical therapy room inside the prison.

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Arrest, deportation, and terrorism charges

Egyptians abroad face the ghost of imprisonment in political cases

Sabri Shalabi and 20 years imprisonment after working for the Saudi government

10 Nubian Egyptians in Saudi Arabia detained after October victory celebration

The family reveals that their son was deported from Kuwait and imprisoned by State Security

Repeated incidents of arbitrary arrest and prolonged detention of Egyptians residing abroad, prosecutions of terrorism-related cases, whether on the territory of these States, deportation to Egypt, and imprisonment on the territory of Egypt, without interference by official State bodies represented in the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Migration, or attempts to release them, despite numerous demands.

Most recently, Egyptian physician, Sabri Mosaad Ibrahim Shalaby was sentenced to 20 years' imprisonment, residing in Saudi Arabia. Sabry is not the only one to be tried within the Kingdom's territory, but there are 10 Nubians of different ages, who have been imprisoned for more than two years and tried by the Algerian Specialized Court.

Despite the Migration Act Law of adequate means to deal with issues of concern to Egyptians abroad, total silence and disregard for these issues were the titles of Egypt's official institutions manner. No one spoke about them or demanded their release.

Dr. Sabri Shalaby was sentenced to 20 years imprisonment

The events of the first incident involving the citizen, Dr. Sabri Shalaby, when he decided to claim his right and initiate a lawsuit in 2019, in order to settle his salary to end his arrest in January 2020. Sabri Shalaby is an Egyptian doctor who worked for the Saudi Ministry of Health from 2006 to the end of 2019. It was discovered 10 years after his work that he was registered on the Ministry's system with a lower job title than the contractor.

He filed a lawsuit in court in 2017 that lasted for two years and eventually it came in his favour in 2019, a judgement to settle his salary retroactively since the contract. The Ministry appealed the judgement and, in parallel, arbitrarily terminated his contract and issued him with a final exit visa, following which Shalaby booked tickets to return to Egypt after the date of the appeal hearing.

Two weeks before the hearing, he was arrested on January 28, 2020, by a group who identified themselves as a security agency of the General Directorate of Detectives of Tabuk City. When he was arrested, all his devices were confiscated from a personal laptop, two mobile phones, 13 memory chips, and all his medical books. It is worth mentioning that there is no political content either electronically or in his books, and he does not have any electronic accounts.

The family tried to inquire about him and did not obtain information. The first telephone contact with the family occurred 4 days after his arrest, and told them that he was at the General Detective Prison in Tabuk City. Two weeks later he was transferred to Dahban prison in Jeddah. He was held incommunicado for 9 months, and in October 2020 he was transferred to collective detention. In the course of nine months, he went on a hunger strike, demanding that he be allowed to communicate with his family in Egypt and be transferred from solitary confinement, but to no avail, and for health reasons, he was then transferred to the prison hospital.

Over the course of the year after his arrest, the prison officials of the Egyptian Consulate in Jeddah were contacted almost weekly without any significant result or resulting in any change from his poor condition, and this has continued until now after two and a half years of detention. On 20 August 2022, the Specialized Criminal Court in Riyadh sentenced Dr. Sabry Mosaad Ibrahim Shalaby to 20 years imprisonment on charges of joining and endorsing the

Muslim Brotherhood. The Criminal Court is the court specializing in cases relating to terrorism.

Notwithstanding the demands of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, to release him and send letters to the National Council for Human Rights, the Ministry of Migration, the Egyptian Psychiatric Association, and the Doctors' Union, to intervene and release Dr. Sabri Mosaad Shalaby, but no reply has been received from them.

Trial of 10 Nubians and fears of a long prison

Also in Saudi Arabia, 10 Nubians face detention for terrorism-related charges - according to their relatives, their fates remain pending after the trial was postponed to 28 September 2022 and re-interrogated without the presence of their lawyer.

Despite announcements of attempts to resolve the issue, negotiations appear not to have ended in favour of the Nubians, at the end of August 2021, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, chairman

of the Reform and Development Party, and a member of the National Council for Human Rights came out with statements soothing the people and reassuring them.

At the time, Sadat said, "We have obtained promises from internal organs to reach consultations and negotiations to release the Egyptians held in Saudi Arabia, adding that “The Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Immigration have been approached with Saudi authorities for their release.”

But nothing changed and they were locked up for more than two years as their trial was completed, the last hearing on August 31 ended with the hearing being postponed until September 28. They were arrested, when a group of Nubian associations decided to organize a ceremony to commemorate Nuba's heroes in October but not their ally, and when Saudi authorities arrested and detained some organizers; others were questioned without detention.

In accordance with article 2 of the Egyptian Immigration Act No. 111 of 1983, the State must take care of Egyptians abroad. The Minister of Immigration must take the necessary steps to achieve such care, including: "Organizing conferences and symposiums inside and outside to discuss the problems of migrants and find solutions to them and inform them of their country's affairs and national issues."

Despite the silence of the official organs of the State, Nuba's detainees were released after two months of detention, but the Saudi authorities decided to ban them from travelling. The decision to ban travel was an indication of what would happen to them later. During July 14-15, 2020, the Saudi authorities decided to arrest them again, and they were detained without investigation, in Asir prison in Abha city, denying them access to their relatives or assigning a lawyer to defend them. Later, they were allowed a weekly phone call for their families.

The Saudi authorities accused the 10 Nubians of terrorism-related charges and organized a gathering without a permit. More than a year after their detention, the decision to refer them to trial was issued before the Criminal Court specialized in terrorism cases. According to Amnesty International, the Criminal Court is an extraordinary court known for sentencing too unfair to death, often relying on confessions obtained under torture or coercion.

The list of detainees includes Egyptian nationals from various Nubian villages, some over the age of 65, most of whom suffer from chronic diseases requiring periodic medical attention. They are all members of independent Nubian associations in Saudi Arabia, founded years ago as a means of communication and interdependence among Nubians in Saudi Arabia, and are not aimed at any political or party activity.

In the course of the trial, a number of Egyptian rights organizations demanded the immediate and unconditional release of the detained Nubian Egyptians and the suspension of that trial. In a statement, the human rights organizations reiterated their condemnation of the Egyptian

consulate's position in Riyadh and the Egyptian Government's failure to intervene directly and clearly to release Egyptian detainees or even provide legal support to them.

The statement of the rights organizations came days before the start of the trial hearings, numbering five: "Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, Freedom of Thought and Expression Foundation, Nadeem Centre, Egyptian Front for Human Rights, Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, Freedom Initiative, Committee for Justice."

According to the statement of human rights organizations, detainees were subjected to various types of ill-treatment and denied the right to visits and correspondence. Their families also tried to communicate with Egyptian government officials, including the former Minister for Immigration and Assistant Minister for Foreign Affairs, the National Council for Human Rights and the Council of Ministers; who have all confirmed their knowledge of it, but without concrete intervention.

Arrest, deportation and detention by decision of the State Security Prosecutor

Another story was revealed by the family of the young "Mohammed Abdel-Monsef Muhammad Ali", who said that he had been arrested in Kuwait, where he had been working for years, deported to Egypt and detained on the issue of restricting the security of a high state while appealing to the family to intervene to save his future and release him.

According to the family's letter, Mohammed Abdel-Monsef is 32 years old and has been working in Kuwait for 3 years. He was arrested there, deported to Egypt and detained in case No. 620 of 2021, which restricted the security of the State. The young man's sister said: "My brother travelled to work and depend on himself in the hope that he would return to his country and marry. He was working day and night. His dreams and those of his family evaporated, as he was our breadwinner after Allah."

She said: "We do not know what crime he committed as he worked abroad day and night, what did he do but he travelled for earning his living after graduating from the army, travelled abroad to change the poor situation we suffer from. What did he do to be deported and cut off." The letter added: "A young man who does not want anything but having a home and a family. For more than a year and a half now, he is locked up losing his youth, age, and life. I pledge for having some mercy on him"

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Bitter Complaints

Soaring prices devour Egyptian pockets

Complaints from merchants and owners of food shops about high prices of ingredients

Citizens: We try to circumvent the prices cricis by rationalizing consumption and adopting "belt-tightening"

Successive waves of rising commodity prices witnessed in Egypt over the past months, which is escalating with the Russian-Ukrainian war, while the index is still rising. Egyptians used to face these waves in different forms, either with cynicism and criticism or by rationalizing consumption and saving expenses.

Bitter price rises were revealed by data from the Central Mobilization and Statistics Agency on August 10, 2022. Annual inflation rates in Egyptian cities rose to 13.6 percent last July from 13.2 percent last June, while data showed monthly inflation in July rose 1.3 percent from 0.1 percent last June.

Successive increase in prices, not only in commodities and food, but prolonged petroleum materials is in an increase which was announced by the Ministry of Petroleum last July, and is considered the highest since the beginning of the pricing of petroleum materials and their periodic increase every 3 months.

Some experts explained that the Egyptian government's decision to raise the prices of gasoline and solar on July 13, 2022, was due to the depreciation of the pound, as the exchange rate of the dollar against the pound rose by about 20% since March 20, in addition to the continued rise in global petroleum prices over the past period, due to the effects of the Ukrainian-Russian war.

Egypt has secured 3 loans from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) over the past six years, amounting to nearly $ 20 billion, starting with a $12 billion loan in 2016 to finance a $ 2.77 billion economic reform program to cope with the fallout of the coronavirus pandemic, and complemented by a third loan worth $ 5.2 billion under the credit readiness program.

Journalist writer D. Amar Hassan on Egypt's economic situation today, wrote on his Twitter account: "It has become a goal

A number of Egyptian media professionals said in the United Channels that Egyptian markets will experience the most difficult soaring price and inflation wave since the Second World War, amid expectations that the Egyptian government will take a number of painful economic decisions in exchange for foreign loans to close the country's growing financial gap.

of economic success to be able to pay debt interest on time."

Egg prices have seen totally unwarranted and persistent rises in recent times, and a number of experts from Egypt's poultry exchange market have predicted a crisis in the supply of poultry and, consequently, higher prices, as a result of the reluctance of many breeders to "Housing" in the new cycle, owing to higher production costs, with about 30% out of the production circle according to the poultry division of the Federation of Chambers of Commerce, other than breeders getting rid of 2 million mothers' chickens, which will lead to higher prices of chicks as well as eggs.

Apart from official data and government figures, “Mesaha” had a trip to some food shops to survey the views of shop owners and customers about the reality of prices and increase them.

Asked by a food shop owner, he stated that shop owners suffered not only from high prices of lentils, pasta, rice, oil, tomatoes, and chickpeas but also from the rent of shops, workers' wages, and higher prices of electricity, water and gas, forcing them to raise the price as the Kashmiri dish was almost double its cost to offset the high cost.

Muhammad Bayoumi, an owner of a butchery store, said: "I am buying the calf at a price of between Pound35: 45 thousand and when I start selling its meat, the meat rests in the shop for about 5 days because the customer who was buying 4 kg of meat is currently buying a kilo and sometimes half a kilo." He concluded: "It is not my fault – the feed prices are expensive and may God help the people."

Asking one of the owners of the fish shops, Mohamed Al-Saeed replied: "The customer buys the cheapest fish, Bolti fish or mackerel, which is priced from 45 to 60 pounds per kilo. Fatima Abdullah, a homemaker, said: " I do not know I live. I have my son in middle school who is highly ranked in education, but I sent him to the Industrial Diploma School and his older sister is currently in the art diploma, even though she was excellent because I do not have money to pay for their education, books, and private courses." She added: "Their father has no fixed job but he does his best to work and we can just get by. What to say other than thanking God!”

Cases of journalists and bloggers’ imprisonment

440 and 441 for 2022 state security.. New detention portal for opinion holders

Institutions demanding the closure of both cases, the release of detainees, and a halt to the targeting of bloggers, journalists, and content makers

A new trap to lock up journalists, bloggers, and content makers on diverse social media, most notably TikTok. Over the past few months, the Egyptian authorities have expanded the inclusion of new detainees pending cases 440 and 441 of 2022, restricting the security of the Supreme State. Data on the cases revealed the imprisonment of journalists for solidarity with other colleagues, as well as the imprisonment of citizens for publishing a satirical videos of rising prices, along with others who published satirical videos.

Human rights organizations previously condemned the Egyptian authorities' continued imprisonment of a group of journalists and bloggers and the incarceration of others in cases 440 and case 441 of 2022, on the basis 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 joining a terrorist group -- without specifying them -- and the dissemination of false news through social media, to punish anyone who proceeds to exercise his or her inherent right to express his or her opinion, or who participates in criticism or analysis in public affairs cases.

The organizations also deplored the Egyptian authorities' perpetration of these violations in conjunction with a national dialogue that should be open to all critical opinions and encompass all opposition political spectrums, against the backdrop of presidential promises to activate the Presidential Amnesty Commission to release political prisoners and prisoners of conscience and not bring more to prisons.

Among those locked up in the case, No. 441 of 2022 is the State Security Survey, journalist and TV presenter, Hala Fahmi. She was arrested last April for her solidarity, support, and participation in the protests of radio and television workers (at Maspero) demanding the improvement of their career conditions, as well as some of her critical views of Egypt's economic situation. The same case also includes journalist Safaa Al-Korbeji, arrested on 20 April; She faced the same accusations after sharing videos of protests in Maspero - which began early in the current year - against the National Media Authority's administration.

According to human rights organizations, the journalist Donya Samir was arrested last June and joined Case 440 of 2022, after posting a video showing her being harassed by the governor of South Sinai. The indictment included 3 other digital content makers known as "Thorafaa Al Ghalaba" which means the poor people sarcasm show, who were detained for a period prior to their release last May.

On May 15, security forces arrested journalist Mohamed Fawzi, after sharing a video criticizing the Egyptian family's breakfast and demanding the release of political prisoners. Two weeks after Fawzi's enforced disappearance, he appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecutor pending the same case, facing repeated indictments, and continued to renew his detention. Recently, he also joined Case 440 Shadi Sharaf Al-Din on July 15, after posting a video burning Israel's flag in the street. Sharaf Al-Din had disappeared for a week following his arrest on 9 July, when he was detained at the Mundi National Security Headquarters before appearing before the prosecutor's office. This is in addition to others who recently joined the cause on the back of posting videos on the TikTok platform.

The human rights institutions said that these cases "rely on a repeated and consistent list of accusations, wholly based on inquiries by the National Security Service, adopted by the

Supreme State Security Prosecution; It wastes the ages of persons in years of pretrial detention, or refers them to unfair trials, as part of a wider campaign aimed at confiscating all forms of the right to free expression, controlling personal accounts, and restricting or withholding security control over traditional and electronic media platforms. "

The signatory institutions included the Cairo Centre for Human Rights Studies, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, the Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, the Committee for Justice Centre, the Freedom Initiative, the Egyptian Office for Rights and Freedoms and, lastly, the Freedom of Thought and Expression Foundation.

The rights organizations signatories to these demands renew their demand for the immediate release of journalists, bloggers, and content makers detained for exercising their right to express their opinion on social media sites and for the cessation of terrorism charges in the prosecution of dissenting opinions of the Egyptian Government.

Last May, Reporters Without Borders published its annual press freedom rating for 2022, which revealed that the number of countries on the Red List reached a record 28, and Egypt dropped two places in the index rating that assesses the status of press freedom in 180 countries and regions annually to 168.

According to the index, Myanmar (176th) was included in the list of the world's 10 worst countries for press freedom, with the February 2021 coup d 'état decreasing press freedom by 10 years, in addition to China, Turkmenistan (175th, 177th), Iran (178th), Eritrea (179th) and North Korea. The list of the worst 10 States included two Arab States, Iraq and Syria, respectively, in salaries (172, 171). On the other hand, the current year's ranking revealed that Egypt's ranking had fallen by two places to 168th, up from 166th in last year's ranking.

Freedom for the honoured black Lawyer’s Cloak

Rights lawyer Mohammed al-Baqer and 3 years imprisonment, rotation, constrictions, and absence!

Right from being imprisoned while performing his duty to defend a detainee to being sentenced to 4 years of imprisonment.

Ni’ma Hisham: I am so tired, I miss my husband and I am dying to see him again free.

Human Rights Lawyer Mohammed al-Baqer, Director of Adalah Foundation for Rights and Freedoms, completed 3 years of imprisonment since his arrest in September 2019. Al-Baqer served this period between remand detention and an emergency State Security Misdemeanor Court sentence of 4 years imprisonment for accusations copied from his basic case, while hopes continue to be renewed that he will be free one day.

I miss my husband for 3 years ago. These words were part of a letter written by Nima Hisham, Al-Baqer's wife, after three years of his imprisonment, expressing how much she missed him and the details of their day together and the nature of their relationship. Nima began talking about her husband saying, “I miss Bakir", and then talked about her husband and the things they used to do together, and about his manners with everyone, saying: "And his love for people and patience to listen and seeking excuses for any son he meets in his life."

On 29 September 2019, human rights lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer was arrested when he went to the Prosecutor's Office to attend investigations into Alaa Abdel Fattah, but he was surprised that he had been arrested and detained in the same case. During his deportation to

prison, Mr. Al-Baqer was tortured as soon as he arrived in prison and proved what had happened to him in the record of the investigation.

The imprisoned case No. 1356 of 2019 confined the security of the State. He faces charges of broadcasting and spreading false news, misusing a means of social media, and sharing a terrorist group with information and promoting its purposes. Al-Baqer's arrest was part of a campaign of arrests involving a number of other opinion holders, which followed the 20 September 2019 demonstrations and was known as the "events of September." The case includes beside al-Baqer, political activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah, and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan, famous as Mohammed Oxygen, who were also arrested at the same time.

On 9 October 2019, while investigating Al-Baqer before the State Security Prosecutor, he demanded that he must be transferred to another prison with more convenient conditions, at a minimum, and that his conditions of detention be improved by a "maximum security 2" prison. During the investigation, he said that on 30 September 2019, when he was transferred to a "maximum security 2" prison, he was blindfolded and forced to walk bending his back while officers launched insults at him. They also stripped him of everything he had - even personal toiletries - and dressed him in prison uniforms while he was blindfolded, and then was forcefully dragged to the cell.

According to al-Baqer's testimony at the time, he remained in the same underwear that he was arrested with no toiletries for 9 days, without being allowed to shower, in addition to sleeping on the floor, which resulted in diseases in his back, skin, shoulder, and caused various illnesses and pain. He asked to be checked by the prison doctor and his request was rejected.

During his imprisonment, Mr. Al-Baqer was unable to say goodbye to his father. He died after his arrest. Following the Defence's demands that he goes out to the funeral, the prison administration granted the request to be out of high security. Al-Baqer attended his father's funeral, surrounded by security forces dressed in white suits - the uniform of the prison recognized during the period of preventive detention - and decided that he would be the Imam of the mourners at the funeral prayers.

Because of his confinement, Baqer was deprived of his father's farewell, he was unable to participate in his family's holidays and events, or to check on his mother's health, especially with the onset of the coronavirus, as all prisons were suspended - then - visits to parents and also to consider confinement sessions. Recently, Mr. Al-Baqer's wife said that the prison administration had refused to enter her husband's toothpaste, requesting that they be allowed in so that he could wash his teeth so that he would not develop any diseases.

In conjunction with one year of imprisonment, he was surprised to be brought to the State Security Prosecutor's Office to investigate him against a new case that carried case No. 855 of 2020. Al-Baqer's lawyer explained that he had defended himself by explaining the conditions of his detention in maximum security prison 2, as well as the period during which visits and

hearings had been suspended since March 2020, which made it impossible to conceive of such crimes, pointing out that he had asked to be confronted on behalf of the group he was accused of belonging to or prove such accusations to be able to carry out.

The constrictions set for Baqer did not stand there, on October 16, 2021, lawyers learned that Baqer and others had been referred for criminal prosecution. Two days after learning of the decision, the first court hearings were held, and on December 20, 2021, the court sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah to 5 years imprisonment and four years imprisonment for Mohamed al-Baqer and Mohamed Oxygen. In case No. 1228 of 2021, the security of an emergency state was a misdemeanor, as reproduced in case No. 1356 of 2019, the security of a higher state on charges of joining a terrorist group.

During his imprisonment, he and the labour lawyer, Haitham Mohamedain, a human rights defender, received the Ebru Timtik Award for 2022. The announcement of the award, in conjunction with the European Lawyers' Union Conference, came on the sidelines of the International Day of Fair Trials. The Federation decided to award them the award because of their conditions of imprisonment and their continued imprisonment without fair trials. The Ebru Timtik Award, in honour of the Ebru Timtik lawyer whose name was released, is a Turkish lawyer who died in November 2028, in custody after her hunger strike to demand fair trials.

Human Rights Watch report:

Before the Sharm el-Sheikh Climate Summit.. Egyptian authorities restrict environmental groups' ability to operate independently!

Foundation: Restrictions violate the right to assembly and association forming and threaten the ability to fulfill its environmental obligations

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said that the Egyptian government had "severely curtailed the ability of environmental groups to work independently on policies, advocacy, and field research, which, as I described it, was necessary to protect the country's natural environment", noting that the Egyptian authorities had removed green spaces in many cities for urban projects without consultation with residents or civil society groups.

The organization added that these restrictions "violate the right to freedom of assembly and association and threaten Egypt's ability to fulfill its environmental and climate work obligations while hosting the twenty-seventh session (Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change - COP 27) in November."

Richard Pearshouse, Director of Environment at Human Rights Watch, said: “The Egyptian government has imposed arbitrary funding, research, and registration obstacles that have debilitated local environmental groups, forced some activists to escape into exile and others to move away from important work. the Government should immediately lift its overriding restrictions on independent non-governmental organizations, including environmental groups ".

Last June, Human Rights Watch interviewed 13 activists, academics, scientists, and journalists working on environmental issues in Egypt, all of whom were involved in one way or another in promoting movement, advocacy, and action for climate, some of whom are currently working for non-governmental groups while others have stopped for safety or security reasons or left the country. They spoke on condition of anonymity for security reasons. Six other people refused interviews, because of various security concerns, or because government restrictions forced them to stop their environmental work.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) described a sharp decline in its autonomous workshop on the environment and climate since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi's government came to power in 2014. They described methods of harassment and intimidation, including arrest and difficulty travelling, which created a general atmosphere of fear. These experiences reflect similar tactics taken by the Egyptian authorities against local and international independent organizations in general since 2014 as part of a relentless crackdown on civil society.

At the same time, some people described a recent expansion in formal tolerance of environmental activities that are easily aligned with the Government's priorities and not seen as critical of the Government. An emerging number of these environmental groups often work in technical areas such as garbage collection, recycling, renewable energy, food security, and climate finance. Human Rights Watch said it found that the most sensitive environmental issues were those that indicated the Government's failure to protect people's rights from damage caused by corporate interests, including issues related to water security, industrial pollution, and environmental damage caused by work in the areas of urban development, tourism and agriculture.

Many activists were quoted as saying that their organizations, widely regarded as leading in Egypt, had been severely weakened by government constraints and a prevailing sense of fear and uncertainty, rendering them unable to act as "watchdogs" to abuse government power. According to the Human Rights Watch report, government performance has forced dozens of activists and leading civil society groups in Egypt, including those working on environmental

and human rights issues, to leave the country, reduce or leave the country. A number of foreign rights and environmental organizations have closed their offices in Egypt since 2014.

The organization stressed that the secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) and other Governments participating in COP-27 should work with the Egyptian Government to provide space for the diverse participation of civil society in climate talks. This includes ensuring that the sites where the Conference's events take place are inclusive and accessible to all and that observers, including groups critical of the Government, can register and access negotiations and be able to protest and express their positions freely. The Secretariat should also develop a set of rights criteria to be met by States hosting the Conference of the Parties as part of the hosting agreement.

The organization noted that in recent months and years, the Egyptian authorities have removed some recent areas of the inner green belt in Cairo, Alexandria, and other cities for urban projects, which appear to have included little or no consultations with residents or civil society groups. An activist, who preferred not to be named as the organization said, said that it was difficult to do independent organized work on this important issue because of repression, even though Cairo is one of the world's most polluted and least green cities.

It also pointed out that this comes as a result of the new restrictions and complex processes introduced by the Civil Associations Act 2017 and the updated Act 2019, which hit independent organizations, including environmental groups, and made their operations extremely difficult. These laws impose a range of other severe restrictions and controls, including granting the Government, led by the security services, the power to "inspect" the work of organizations at any time without necessarily specifying the reasons. According to one person, the Government supported abusive speech about NGOs "in the media and popular culture as recipients of foreign funds and therefore as agents of foreign agendas."

The debt ghost haunts Egyptians

Fears of rising external debt after new negotiations with IMF

Debt reaches unprecedented numbers. Central Bank: $157.8 billion

Experts: Confronting the economic crisis begins with political reform.. We have to face the truth.

Finance Minister: Russia and Ukraine crisis caused debt to rise and the situation under control

Worrying conditions for Egyptians and fear is haunting all without exception once the Central Bank reports that Egypt's external debt is rising due to its consequences and the effects it will have as a result of this rise. Over the past period, the central bank announced an increase in the value of exporters' external debt of about $12.3 billion in the first quarter of this year compared to the end of December 2021 by 8.5%.

According to data published by the Central Bank, external debt rose to about $157.8 billion at the end of March, compared to about $145.5 billion at the end of December 2021. Long-term debt accounted for 83.3% of the total debt, while short-term debt accounted for 16.7% of its total value.

According to the World Bank's definition, short-term debt with a repayment deadline of less than one year, as opposed to long-term debt spanning more than a year. In parallel to rising external debt, the Central Bank has repaid about $24 billion since the beginning of 2022, including $10 billion in external debt and $14 billion to foreign funds.

Rising Prices

Some expressed concerns about the consequences of the increase in debt which will increase inflation. This would result in an increase in the prices of goods, food, and services, which would place a burden on citizens, as well as the depreciation of the Egyptian pound. The media outlet, Ahmed Musa, cautioned against the rise in commodity prices over the next six months, beginning in September.

As to the reason for the increase, the Minister of Finance, Dr. Mohamed Maait, said that the size of the debt is greater than the capabilities of the Egyptian State, and the likelihood of repeating Sri Lanka's scenario in Egypt was not true and he reassured that the country has sufficient resources and commodities!

Part of the external debt of the budget committees is $83 billion, and the exchange rate changed one pound raises the debt 83 billion pounds, and after the coronavirus crisis the debt rose to 87.6%." He stressed that there is a plan to bring debt service down to 27% of the state's general budget, while the ministry targets a 6.6% growth rate during the current fiscal year.

He pointed out that there is inflation around the world that has caused prices to rise, especially since Egypt imports a lot of goods from abroad, including petroleum which costs Egypt a hard currency; especially after high oil prices, Egypt imports about 12 million wheat tons at a cost of $6 billion; It is twice the price at which it was imported before the war between Russia and Ukraine.

Over the past months, Sri Lanka has faced an economic crisis that has toppled the country's president due to high external debt, inability to pay it, and the state's foreign exchange reserves. This caused high prices of goods, and food, a lack of supply of medicine, food, and fuel, and a prolonged power outage in the city which angered citizens on the streets.

In the search for solutions, Mohamed Anwar Sadat, head of the Reform and Development Party, called on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to apply article 205 of the Constitution, which states that the National Security Council shall be convened to hear and discuss the members 24

of the Council and those who see the expertise and competence to discuss how to deal with Egypt's "external debt crisis", as a real challenge and threat to Egypt national security.

In a statement, he stressed that "the chances of Egypt succeeding in this file are great if the proposed scenarios are well applied and marketed and we create general facilities through some steps and actions that will encourage creditors and lenders to help Egypt and drop part of its external debt."

All the initiatives that had been put forward on the debt file had addressed many ideas, most of which were confined to managing the crisis through debt rescheduling. That was a respectful and good trend, but we tended to work on more than that and not just rescheduling, extending benefits, and replacing them with other long-term loans or offering the sale of some assets and ongoing acquisitions as interim solutions. Sadat stressed the importance of working to drop a significant portion of the external debt that strains the government's budget and essentially impedes development, as in the 1990s after the war of liberation of Kuwait and the drop of a significant portion of Egypt's external debt.

Solutions Offered

Mohammed Bayomi, Secretary-General of the Karama Party, stressed the importance of political reform, commenting: "Dialogue is not permissible and we are handcuffed." A workshop entitled "Debt Crisis between Budget Deficit and Dollar Crisis" was organized by the Technical Secretariat of the Civil Movement of the Karama Party in order to define its vision on various issues, formulate them and prepare various papers and files for submission within the National Dialogue.

Dr-Zahid Anwar-Shami, Vice President of the Socialist People's Alliance Party, noted that Egypt's economy has suffered from balance-of-payments deficits, especially the trade balance for a long time, which entails resorting to borrowing, stressing the need to reject IMF policies that have proved unsuccessful in many other cases and experiences.

Dr. Mohamed Hassan Khalil, leader of the Egyptian Socialist Party, considered that the experiences of countries that challenged the Fund's policies of austerity, privatization, and exchange rate liberalization such as Brazil in 2000 and preceded by India in the 1970s, and currently Russia under Putin's leadership, could be reviewed.

The cause of the crisis

Mohamed Khalil, the secretary of the organization of the Egyptian Democratic Party, attributed the basis of the crisis to the wrong policies, not the coronavirus crisis or the Russian-Ukrainian crisis, adding that this must be recognized as the right solutions. He explained that the review of expenditures from the solutions put forward, as well as the irreplaceable investment to advance the national economy. The success of economic development is linked to our ability to attract private, domestic, and foreign investment

because it adds a cash balance to the country in hard currency, and there are solutions to the economic crisis but the political will is required.

In the same vein, Dr. Ibrahim Awad, Professor of Public Policy at the American University of Cairo, said in an article in the newspaper Al-Shorouk that the size of the Egyptian market is relatively large and promises high returns on Egyptian asset holders. In his newspaper article entitled "Facing the Economic Issue", he stated that the state should use market size as an incentive to attract new investments that add activities, enterprises, and employment opportunities rather than merely replacing other owners irrespective of their nationalities.

"Economic and trade agreements concluded by Egypt, such as the partnership agreement with the European Union that opens European markets to products manufactured in Egypt, without quantitative restrictions or tariffs, are another attraction to investments." He spoke of the Western country, for which he benefited from a similar agreement and established a major industrial zone in the port of Tangier.

Dr. Abdel-nabi Abdel-motaleb, an economist, said that expenditure should be rationalized and that the necessary needs of the Government and the administrative organ of the State should be limited and that the structuring of public debt items should help reduce debt service payments interest and premiums.