Sawaseya Calls On Egypt Gov’t To Abandon Political Feud, Release MB Leaders

Sawaseya Calls On Egypt Gov’t To Abandon Political Feud, Release MB Leaders

In its press release issued on Monday, December 22, Sawaseya Center for Human Rights and Combating Discrimination called on the Egyptian authorities to release MB prisoners of conscience who were jailed in case number 963 for the year 2006.


The center affirmed that these prisoners had spent two years in prison for purely political reasons and that the political feud between the regime and the MB should not justify the successive grievances against the MB nor their exception from presidential pardons for those who have served half their prison term, a matter which had occurred on the Commemoration of the July revolution this year when some of the citizens who had committed various crimes and who”d been criminally tried received pardons while prisoners of political opposition remained restricted.


The center also alluded that the MB case had started on December 2006 when the security apparatus arrested tens of students from Al-Azhar University for an athletic show they had presented as a protest against nationalizing student elections, denying their rights, and threats of bullying and arrests.


Meanwhile, another campaign was launched which resulted in the arrest and detainment of a number of prominent MB leaders.  On top of them was MB Vice-Chair Mohamed Khairat El-Shater. 


The center emphasized that what happened in the student athletic show, which the students later apologized for, should not be an excuse for detaining the leaders and activists of the peaceful opposition, and linking other detainees with their fabricated case.  The center further added that the incident does not justify what some anti-Islamist media channels have done by launching big media campaigns against the MB which contributed to the continuance of the security campaign against them, and, in fact, encouraged it to take more oppressive measures that neither conform to the constitution or law.


It is mentioned that the MB prisoners of opinion had received three consecutive decisions ordering their release by the natural civil court on January 29, March 29, and April 24 2007.  However, instead of submitting to the rule of law, decisions of their detainment were issued as a preliminary for another that was to be more severe on February 5, 2007, that was decision number 40 for the year 2007 which ordered the transfer of the case number 963 for the year 2006 in the Supreme State Security Court to the Military Court.


Later, on May 8, 2007 they received a historical ruling ending the transfer of their case to exceptional military courts after the First District Administrative Court ordered ending the execution of decision number 40 for the year 2007.  However, governmental authorities insisted on using illegal means in general and exceptional courts in particular against the biggest peaceful opposition force in the country and continued in its procedures and military trial sessions for around a whole year until the harsh and unjust sentences were issued on Tuesday, April 15, 2008, a matter which at the least could be called a political ruling issued by a court that did not abide by any criteria of a just trial and which at the same time expresses a relapse in terms of forming a state of law and basic liberty guarantees in Egypt.


The center also called on Egyptian authorities to reconsider their current security policies which have exceeded “poisonous” anti-propagation, distortion, and detainments for certain periods to depriving peaceful opposition from their rights and liberties, confiscating their private and business wealth, in addition to the continuous social, economic, and political annoyances which negatively affect the livelihood and future of many Egyptian families.