[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]Freedom of expression organisation Index on Censorship calls on Egypt to immediately release activist Amal Fathy, who was detained by police last Friday.
Fathy was arrested alongside her husband Mohamed Lotfy, director of the award-winning human rights organisation, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms. Police raided the couple’s home in Cairo at 2.30 a.m. and took them and their 3-year-old child to the police station. Security officers searched their house, their mobile phones were seized and they were denied the right to communicate with a lawyer or family.
Lotfy and their child were released after three hours but Fathy has been ordered to remain in detention for 15 days on “on charges of incitement to overthrow the ruling system, publishing lies and misusing social media”.
On Wednesday, Fathy posted a video on her Facebook page in which she spoke about the prevalence of sexual harassment in Egypt, criticizing the government’s failure to protect women. She also criticised the government for deteriorating human rights, socioeconomic conditions and public services.
Rachael Jolley, editor of Index on Censorship, said: “This is just the latest attempt by the Egyptian government to stop the public being informed about what is going in their country. The authorities must release Amal Fathy immediately.”
Fathy’s husband is co-founder of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF). ECRF, a 2018 winner of an Index on Censorship Freedom of Expression award, works on documenting cases concerning torture in prisons and enforced disappearance in an increasingly difficult climate in Egypt where independent voices are suppressed and threatened.
For more information, please contact Jodie Ginsberg at jodie@indexoncensorship.org[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_basic_grid post_type=”post” max_items=”12″ style=”load-more” items_per_page=”4″ element_width=”6″ grid_id=”vc_gid:1526299869862-1ce8ff4a-0268-2″ taxonomies=”147, 24135″][/vc_column][/vc_row]
