Egyptian Revolutionary Council Head Maha Azzam Letter to African Commission on Human and People Rights

The Hon. Commissioner Bechir Khalafallah

Vice-Chairperson of the African Commission on Human and People’s Rights,

Sir,

I have the honour of writing to you on behalf of the Egyptian Revolutionary Council, set up post the July 3rd 2013 coup in Egypt as the voice of the January 25th revolution outside of Egypt, with regards to your letter to General Sisi on 26th February, 2015.

As you are probably aware, the regime of General Sisi has chosen to completely disregard both your letter as well as the resolutions and provisional measure issued by the African Commission, and execute the first of the defendants, Mr Mahmoud Hassan Ramadan Abdel-Naby.

This blatant disregard by the Sisi regime of the resolutions of the African Commission highlight the total lack of their commitment to the African Union and its Commission on Human and People’s Rights.

Further, this action, along with the unprecedented diplomatic snub by General Sisi of not acknowledging the correspondence from the Commission, reflects the total disregard of the Sisi regime of Articles 4, 5, 6 and 7 of the African Charter. The damning reports of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International provide further incontrovertible proof of this, while the conduct of the Egyptian courts in prosecuting political dissidents opposed to General Sisi’s military regime since the coup clearly demonstrates Egypt’s violation of Article 26 of the Charter.

We therefore call on the African Union, on behalf of the Egyptian people who are signatories to the Charter by virtue of their country being a signatory,  to enforce the appropriate sanctions on the current Egyptian regime for these violations of the African Charter by suspending Egypt’s membership and prosecuting the current government for violations of the charter within the African Union, as well as raising this violation of International Law at the highest international arena.

We thank you for your attention.

Yours Faithfully,

Dr Maha Azzam

Head, Egypt Revolutionary Council