Egypt’s Prosecution releases EIPR executive director

Cairo – 3 December 2020: Egypt’s Public Prosecution released, Thursday Gasser Abdel Razek, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), along with other members of the Initiative pending their case.

The released members are Karim Ennarah, EIPR’s Criminal Justice Unit Director and Muhammad Bashir, the administrative director at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.

The initiative, previously submitted a petition to the attorney general to release its imprisoned employees.

On November 27, Prosecution of the Supreme State Security Service renewed the detention of Mohamed Bashir, for 15 days pending investigations.

Ennarah, EIPR’s Criminal Justice Unit Director, was arrested in Dahab, South Sinai on November 18, while Bashir, was arrested on November 15. Also, the group's executive director Gasser Abdel-Razek was arrested on November 19 from his home in Maadi district, southern Cairo.

They are facing accusations of joining a terrorist group and committing terrorism and finance-related crime.

In a statement issued on November 21, the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Egypt voiced its rejection of any attempt to influence the investigations being conducted by the EIPR.

“In connection with the reactions and incorrect conclusions circulating in the media and on social media platforms concerning the arrest of a number of employees in the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, which forejudge the findings of the investigations being conducted by the Egyptian judicial authorities in this regard, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Spokesperson, Ambassador Ahmed Hafez, affirmed the rejection of any attempt to influence the investigations being conducted by the Public Prosecution with Egyptian citizens who have been charged,” Egyptian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Ahmed Hafez said in a statement .

The Egyptian Foreign Ministry expressed rejection of an official French statement “interfering in the country’s domestic affairs,” as it commented on the arrest of an Egyptian human rights group official.

A statement published by the French Foreign Ministry on November 17, expressed “deep concern over the arrest of Mohamed Bashir.”