Factbox-National political dialogue in Egypt follows years of crackdowns

CAIRO (Reuters) – Egypt plans to launch a nationwide political dialogue within the coming weeks, a check of whether or not authorities are ready to ease a crackdown on dissent that critics say is probably the most extreme within the nation’s current historical past.

Common-turned-president Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has steadily tightened his grip since he toppled Islamist Mohamed Mursi – the primary democratically elected head of state in Egypt’s trendy historical past – in 2013 after mass protests in opposition to his rule.

Since Sisi got here to energy in 2014, authorities have mentioned that the crackdown on dissent and freedoms has been directed at terrorists and saboteurs attempting to undermine the state.

Here’s a take a look at some high-profile human rights circumstances in Egypt, an in depth U.S. ally which denies allegations of arbitrary and extrajudicial killings, torture and compelled disappearances.

BLOODY CAIRO SIT-IN

Tons of of supporters of Mursi’s Muslim Brotherhood – Egypt’s oldest and most organised Islamist motion – have been killed and hundreds arrested after he was ousted. Senior Brotherhood leaders have been sentenced to loss of life in what human rights teams name unfair trials. Others have been pushed underground or overseas.

In one of many bloodiest occasions in Egypt’s current historical past, safety forces crushed the protest camps of hundreds of supporters of the deposed Mursi in 2013, capturing a whole lot. Rights teams say greater than 800 protesters died.

Human Rights Watch mentioned the raids have been systematic, ordered by high officers and doubtless amounted to crimes in opposition to humanity.

Egypt’s authorities mentioned the report was “characterised by negativity and bias” and relied on nameless witnesses relatively than impartial sources. Egyptian officers, who name the Brotherhood a terrorist group, have repeatedly mentioned some protesters have been armed and fired at police and troopers.

The Brotherhood denies utilizing violence for political ends.

PROTEST LAW

In 2013 Egypt handed a regulation which bans protests with out prior police approval. The measure introduced an outcry from rights teams and raised considerations in regards to the democratic credentials of the army-backed authorities put in after Mursi’s ouster.

The USA expressed concern over the brand new regulation limiting demonstrations, and mentioned it agreed with teams that argue the regulation doesn’t meet worldwide requirements.

CAPTURED ON FILM

An Egyptian police officer was charged over the capturing of a younger mom at a protest in central Cairo, weeks after {a photograph} of her bleeding to loss of life went viral and brought on a global outcry in 2015.

Shaimaa Sabbagh, 32, was shot at a march marking the anniversary of the rebellion that ousted veteran ruler Hosni Mubarak in 2011. The general public prosecutor mentioned she was killed by an officer who fired birdshot to attempt to disperse the protest.

Sisi responded to the fury over Sabbagh’s killing by referring to her as “my daughter” and “the daughter of Egypt”, and promised to convey her killers to justice. The officer was sentenced to seven years in jail on attraction.

STUDENT

Italian scholar Giulio Regeni disappeared in Cairo in January 2016. His physique was discovered virtually per week later and a autopsy examination confirmed he had been tortured earlier than his loss of life.

Intelligence and safety sources advised Reuters in 2016 that police had arrested Regeni exterior a Cairo metro station after which transferred him to a compound run by nationwide safety. The police have denied this and Egyptian officers have repeatedly denied any involvement in Regeni’s killing.

Italy started a trial in opposition to 4 senior members of Egypt’s safety companies in absentia over their suspected position within the case, however proceedings have been suspended due to considerations the lads won’t know that they had been charged.

PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE

In 2018, an Egyptian courtroom put former presidential candidate Abdel Moneim Abol Fotouh on a terrorism record after his arrest for alleged contacts with the Muslim Brotherhood. Abol Fotouh’s household say they’re frightened that his well being is failing in jail.

ANTI-GRAFT CHIEF

A army courtroom sentenced Egypt’s former anti-corruption chief to 5 years in jail in 2018 on costs of spreading false information dangerous to the army, his lawyer mentioned.

Human rights group Amnesty Worldwide condemned the sentencing of Hisham Genena, a former policeman and decide, as one other instance of what it known as Egypt’s crackdown on all dissent underneath Sisi.

ACTIVIST

In 2021, distinguished Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was sentenced to 5 years in jail after being tried on costs of spreading faux information.

Abdel Fattah, a number one activist within the 2011 rebellion that toppled Mubarak after three many years in energy, had beforehand been imprisoned for 5 years in 2014 and launched in 2019.

His household are frightened there may very well be a speedy deterioration in his well being after greater than 115 days on starvation strike, regardless of some enhancements in his jail circumstances.

TWEET

A courtroom in 2021 discovered main human rights activist Hossam Bahgat responsible of insulting a judicial election fee in a tweet. Since 2016, Bahgat has been banned from travelling overseas and has had his private belongings frozen in reference to a separate, decade-long prison investigation.

In 2021, Western nations known as on Egypt to finish the prosecution of activists, journalists and perceived political opponents underneath counter-terrorism legal guidelines, and to launch them unconditionally.

Human rights teams estimate tens of hundreds of individuals have been detained for political causes since 2013. Sisi has mentioned Egypt holds no political prisoners, that safety is paramount and that the federal government is selling human rights by working to offer primary wants similar to jobs and housing.

The president and his backers say the detentions over current years are essential to stabilise Egypt.

RESEARCHER

The loss of life of financial researcher Ayman Hadhoud requires a “thorough, clear and credible” investigation, the U.S. State Division mentioned, after Hadhoud died earlier this 12 months in a Cairo psychiatric hospital the place he was despatched by the safety companies that detained him.

Amnesty Worldwide mentioned its investigation, primarily based on official information, witness interviews and impartial consultants who examined leaked pictures of Hadhoud’s corpse, strongly recommended he had been tortured or in any other case ill-treated earlier than his loss of life.

Egypt’s public prosecution mentioned it has discovered no proof of prison violence in Hadhoud’s loss of life.

(Writing by Michael Georgy, enhancing by William Maclean and Mark Heinrich)