Activist Aya Hijazi returns to US

CAIRO - 21 April 2017: Egyptian-American activist Aya Hijazi arrived in the US on Thursday following her release from prison.

On Sunday April 16, the Cairo Criminal court acquitted Hijazi, after almost three years of detention. In his ruling the judge said the prosecutor had not submitted sufficient evidence to uphold charges.

The court also acquitted six other defendants, among them Hijazi's husband, Mohamed Hassanein, after finding them not guilty of charges of human trafficking, kidnapping, and the sexual exploitation and torture of children. Hijazi and Hassanein were arrested in May 2014.

An Egyptian source in Cairo denied that the executive authority had applied any pressure on the court, clarifying that the government only facilitated the procedures of Hijazi's release.

“Interfering in judicial authority affairs is a red line that the government could not and could never cross in Egypt, however, after the verdict the government made the process of releasing Hijazi faster than usual,” the Egyptian source told Egypt Today.

The source added that Hijazi traveled from Cairo on a civilan aircraft upon her request.

Hijazi’s lawyer announced that the verdict is final and that contesting the verdict by the prosecutor would have no legal impact.

Hijazi set up the Belady Foundation for Street Children in September 2013 with the goal of offering services, including protection from sexual abuse, to Egypt’s street children. It offered literacy and art classes in addition to other activities.

In May 2014 police raided Belady’s headquarters in downtown Cairo following a complaint from a man who claimed the foundation had kidnapped his son. The police arrested Hijazi, her husband and six others. Following the raid, the police reportedly discovered Belady was not registered, lacked a licence to offer any help to street children and may have been funded from non-Egyptian sources.

Hijazi told the court that after she had returned from the US to her “beloved country” following the 25 January Revolution she decided to found the Belady Foundation for Street Children.

Hijazi’s case caused friction between Cairo and Washington — the Obama administration called on the Egyptian government to release Hijazi. However the government said at the time that it has not authority to influence or press the court to release Hijazi.

During his visit to Washington earlier this month President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi said the case was “in the hands of the courts and the executive authority cannot interfere”.

“I would like to reassure those who are interested in this case, and by the way the charge against her is using children in demonstrations, that it is now being looked into by the courts,” Al-Sisi told Fox News on 6 April.

“As soon as the courts issue a verdict, we will have the opportunity, based on my authority as president, to act in a suitable way,” he added.