{"id":1061,"date":"2015-11-09T23:22:55","date_gmt":"2015-11-09T23:22:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.csbronline.org\/?p=1061"},"modified":"2016-01-12T05:19:35","modified_gmt":"2016-01-12T05:19:35","slug":"call-to-action-hossam-bahgat-must-be-released","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/csbronline.org\/?p=1061","title":{"rendered":"CALL TO ACTION: Egyptian Journalist & Human Rights Defender Hossam Bahgat Must Be Released"},"content":{"rendered":"

9 November 2015<\/p>\n

Call to Action: Egyptian Journalist & Human Rights Defender Hossam Bahgat Must Be Released<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Coalition for Sexual and Bodily Rights in Muslim Societies (CSBR) calls for the immediate release of Hossam Bahgat, and for any and all charges against him to be dropped without condition.<\/p>\n

Hossam Bahgat is a leading Egyptian journalist and human rights defender, and is also the founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). Hossam Bahgat is being unlawfully detained by the military prosecutor, with the location of his whereabouts unknown.<\/p>\n

PLEASE TAKE ACTION<\/strong> in circulating the news, and writing to your governments and diplomatic missions, asking them to call for the immediate release of Hossam Bahgat.\u00a0Please use the information provided below in your actions.<\/p>\n


\nBackground:<\/strong> <\/strong><\/p>\n

On Thursday 5 November, a ranked officer left a note summoning Hossam Bahgat to military intelligence unit 77 in Cairo’s eastern district of Nasr City, for 09h00 on Sunday November 8th<\/sup>. Hossam Baghat was accompanied by two friends to the summons, who saw him enter Unit 77 just after 09h30 on November 8th.<\/p>\n

For the next eight hours, Hossam Bahgat was interrogated without legal counsel, his whereabouts unknown. It was later learned that he was transferred from the military intelligence unit to the military prosecution around midday. It was only after 17h30 that Bahgat was allowed to call lawyers of his choosing.<\/p>\n

After that point, 15 human rights lawyers attended the on-going interrogation. His lawyers said that the military prosecutor had interrogated Hossam solely in connection with his writing and in particular the one investigative report he wrote for the online newspaper Mada Masr on 13 October 2015.<\/p>\n

They said that the charges against him were Article 102 bis \u201cdeliberately spreading false information with the purpose of harming public order or public interest\u201d and Article 188 \u201cpublishing, with malicious intent, false news that is likely to disturb public order.\u201d<\/p>\n


\nViolation of Constitutional Rights & Human Rights: <\/strong>In a statement<\/a> on November 8th, Amnesty International said Bahgat\u2019s interrogation \u201cis a clear signal of the Egyptian authorities\u2019 resolve to continue with their ferocious onslaught against independent journalism and civil society.\u201d<\/p>\n

It is well known that Egypt\u2019s military intelligence had summoned a number of journalists in recent months under the auspices of a draconian \u2018counter-terrorism\u2019 law that criminalizes journalists who publish information that differs from the accounts of the Ministry of Defence.<\/p>\n

However as Egypt’s civil society groups have noted<\/a>, these interrogations have usually lasted a few hours, and often ended with a pledge from the journalist to commit to cease publications on specific topics.<\/p>\n

The decision to detain Bahgat for 4-days on the basis of his journalism, after eight hours of interrogation without legal counsel, and then to refuse to release information on his whereabouts today, represents a clear move to intimidate civil society and a heightened attack on what little space for freedom of expression in Egypt remains.<\/p>\n

The decision is also a gross violation of Hossam Bahgat\u2019s constitutional and human rights, particularly Article 71 regarding freedom of publication of the 2014 Constitution, as well as Egypt\u2019s responsibilities under Article 19 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR).<\/p>\n

CSBR calls for the immediate release of Hossam Bahgat and for any and all charges against him to be dropped without condition. Please take action by contacting your governments today.<\/p>\n


\nTAKE ACTION: <\/strong><\/p>\n

(1) WRITE\/EMAIL\/TELEPHONE your governments at home, as well as your government\u2019s diplomatic missions in Egypt:<\/strong><\/p>\n