Court sets verdict date for EIPR asset freeze order after refusing to hear defense

A court session held on Tuesday to rule on the Public Prosecution’s order to freeze the assets of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights was adjourned to December 6, when the judge will issue his verdict, according to lawyer Ragia Omran, a member of EIPR’s defense team.

During a brief 10-minute hearing before the third circuit terrorism court inside the Tora Prison Complex, the judge did not allow the defense team to view the charge sheet of the asset freeze order, denied the defense team a meeting with their clients in private and refused to set a date for the verdict that would allow time for the defense to be heard, Omran said.

“The court, chaired by Justice Mohammed Abdel-Salam, will therefore announce its decision on Sunday without hearing any defence or allowing the defence any information,” EIPR said.

The lawyers representing EIPR, one of Egypt’s most prominent rights organizations, were not notified of the asset freeze order and only found out as they were attempting to obtain visiting permits from the National Security Agency on Monday, the organization said. Arab African International Bank has blocked EIPR’s account until a decision is issued on the freeze order. It is unclear whether the asset freeze order covers EIPR alone, or whether it extends to the personal assets of the three EIPR staff who were detained last month.

Authorities launched a crackdown on EIPR in November, arresting the organization’s administrative manager, Mohamed Basheer, from his home on November 15. This was followed by the arrest of the organization’s criminal justice director, Karim Ennarah, on November 18, while he was on vacation in South Sinai, while EIPR Executive Director Gasser Abdel Razek was arrested from his home on November 19. The State Security Prosecution ordered all three men be held in remand detention for 15 days on charges related to terrorism and the dissemination of false news.

Tuesday’s hearing marked the first time Basheer and Ennarah have been seen since they were initially interrogated following their arrests. Ennarah stated in court on Tuesday that he is being held in solitary confinement, according to Omran. After being held for three days without seeing a lawyer, Abdel Razek saw his defense team on November 23 during a second interrogation session at the State Security Prosecution, when he told his lawyers that he was being held in solitary confinement and had not been let out of his cell since his arrival at Tora. Authorities shaved his head, confiscated all his belongings, left him to sleep on a metal bed with no mattress, and did not provide him with winter clothes. When Abdel Razek’s wife and mother were subsequently allowed to visit Gasser, they learned he had been issued warm clothes and sanitary products by prison authorities. 

Ennarah and Abdel Razek are being held in Liman Tora, while Basheer is being held in Tora Investigations. Patrick George Zaki, EIPR’s gender rights researcher, who was arrested upon his return to Cairo in February from studying abroad in Bologna and has been held in remand detention ever since, is also imprisoned in Tora Investigations.

At the hearing on Tuesday, the three EIPR staff were prevented from receiving any clothes or food that the defense team had brought. Meanwhile, journalists, diplomats and their families were denied entry to the hearing.

The arrest of the three EIPR staffers has sparked international condemnation, with criticism of the crackdown coming from rights organizations, international bodies — such as the United Nations — and governments around the world. 

In the latest salvo, the Foreign Affairs Committee in the United States House of Representatives quoted committee chair, Representative Eliot Engel, in a tweet: “Alarmed to hear about the arrest of the staff of one of Egypt’s leading human rights organizations, @EIPR.” He went on to say: "EIPR is an important voice for the Egyptian people. When Egypt limits the basic freedoms of its people, the world takes note and it makes it harder to improve U.S.-Egyptian relations. I urge Egyptian authorities to immediately #freeEIPRstaff and commit to much-needed reforms."

A social media campaign calling for the release of the EIPR staffers has gained traction since Sunday, November 29, which marked Ennarah’s 37th birthday. The #freekarimnow hashtag circulated as birthday messages for Ennarah rolled in, with celebrities such as Emma Thompson, Stephen Fry, Joseph Fiennes, Carey Mulligan and Bill Nighy, among others, calling for his release.

Speaking to Mada Masr just days before his own arrest, Abdel Razek said that the crackdown on EIPR was a direct response by authorities to a November 3 meeting between EIPR staff and 13 European diplomats and ambassadors to discuss the human rights situation. Held at EIPR’s office, the meeting was attended by ambassadors from Germany, France, Belgium, Denmark, Finland, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Switzerland, as well as other diplomats from Canada, Norway, Sweden, the United Kingdom and representatives from the European Commission in Cairo.

In light of Abdel Razek’s arrest, Hossam Bahgat, the founder of EIPR and a journalist on unpaid leave from Mada Masr, has assumed the position of acting executive director and has led a media campaign to secure the release of his colleagues.

In an appearance on the BBC Arabic program “Bela Quyood” hosted by Rasha Qandil on November 29, Bahgat said the meeting was held at the request of foreign diplomats as part of the routine visits they pay to civil society organizations. Bahgat stressed that the organization is “keen on transparency,” and as a result had stipulated that the meeting be held at the organization’s offices, and that they would publicly announce the meeting and be the first to publish any photos. 

Qandil also asked Bahgat about a threat he issued a November 23 tweet, where he responded to news of the abject conditions in which Abdel Razek was being held by saying that those responsible “would pay the price.”

Bahgat explained that the intention of the “threat” was not to leverage foreign pressure but instead to hold officials responsible for the rights violations to which his colleagues are being subjected in custody, in accordance with the stipulations set out in Egypt’s Constitution.

In response to Qandil’s question as to why EIPR had been reaching out to foreign media, Bahgat said that the organization had been compelled to do so in the face of a smear campaign in the domestic press where false information about EIPR and its work. Bahgat highlighted that over the last four years, the security apparatus has acquired around 80 percent of the country’s media channels. 

Bahgat added during the interview that the defense team's request to appoint an investigative judge came in response to the denial of their basic rights before the State Security Prosecution, which prevented their lawyers from meeting with the defendants before the investigation and reviewing the investigation documents of the National Security Agency, which claims that the human rights organization is "a terrorist group that aims to harm national security." 

EIPR has also been accused of being an illegal organization by the Foreign Ministry. Bahgat, however, noted the irony of the claim given that the government has failed to issue the executive regulations for the contentious 2019 NGO law. Only after the Foreign Ministry’s accusation did the government move to issue the regulations last week, a fact Bahgat said aims to retroactively shore up an attack on EIPR.