Crackdown on civil society groups now worse than under Mubarak, warn rights activists

The Egyptian state is intensifying its crackdown on civil society, human rights activists warned on Thursday, alleging that state abuses are now worse than under deposed President Hosni Mubarak.

Speaking at a press conference organized after police forces raided the offices of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) late Wednesday night, Bahey Eddin Hassan said that the attack is part of a “general atmosphere of oppression in Egypt.”

The director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) characterized the raid as a “warning bell” for Egyptian nongovernmental organizations.

ECESR lawyer Mahmoud Belal described arriving at the group’s downtown Cairo office shortly before midnight and finding it surrounded by policemen, who prevented him from entering the building, before physically assaulting and arresting him.

Five of his colleagues were beaten by armed plain-clothes policemen as they dragged them out of the building, Belal continued.

At the time of the raid, Mostafa Eissa — the head of the group’s documentary film unit — was putting the final touches on a film addressing labor action by iron and steel workers ahead of a press conference held by the workers this morning. He was arrested together with media unit volunteers Hossam Mohamed Nasr, Mahmoud al-Sayed and Sherif Mansour.

Also arrested was ESECR employee Mohamed Adel, a prominent member of the April 6 Youth Movement who has been detained previously for his political activity. An arrest warrant had been issued for Adel in relation to clashes that took place outside the Abdeen Courthouse earlier this month.

Each of the six men were forced to remove an upper piece of clothing, which was then used to blindfold them. Eissa’s clothing was removed and torn up to create makeshift handcuffs. The men were then placed in a microbus and driven to an unknown location.

“We were put in an elevator and then made to stand with our faces against a wall. A policeman stood behind each one of us and if we spoke, if we asked to go to the toilet or for some water, the policeman hit us,” Belal recounted at the press conference.

At one point, Belal and Adel were briefly isolated from their colleagues before being returned to their positions against the wall. All of the men except Adel were then taken to Abdeen police station, where at 9 am they were told that they were free to go. No explanation was given for their detention.

Three computers were confiscated by the police during the raid.

The speakers proffered various explanations for the raid. ECESR’s Mohamed Ali Suleiman, head of the group’s Social Justice Unit, linked it to the iron and steel workers' press conference held Thursday, noting that Eissa’s laptop containing the film on the workers was seized by the police. He also suggested that it might be revenge for the group’s submission of a highly critical report during the United Nations’ review of the extent to which Egypt has upheld its treaty obligations under the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.

Suleiman was dismissive of suggestions that the raid targeted Adel specifically, saying that the activist could have been arrested anywhere without the need to storm the group’s office. He supported the theory that the raid was designed to intimidate rights groups.

“It was clear that they wanted to arrest Adel in ECESR in order to send a message to us and to civil society,” Suleiman said.

Under Mubarak, Egyptian civil society long operated in a climate of suspicion and repression, and was subjected to draconian legislation controlling its activities and sources of funding. The situation remained unchanged under military rule after the January 25, 2011 uprising — in December 2011, six international NGOs were raided by the police, and 43 employees were sentenced to between one and five years in prison after being found guilty of illegally receiving foreign funding and other offenses.

During the tenure of former President Mohamed Morsi, a draft law on NGOs was put forward that critics said was even more repressive than existing legislation.

Hassan said that threats against NGOs increased after the revolution because of the security apparatus’ belief that Egyptian civil society was responsible for sparking the January 25 revolution. He also linked the tightening control on NGOs to their involvement in defending members of the Muslim Brotherhood detained since Morsi’s removal. Rights groups estimate that some 3,000 members are currently in prison.

Hassan was critical of the public’s silence in response to the Muslim Brotherhood arrests, saying that the people “unfortunately forgive and remain silent about what happened in the past months because the majority of victims are Brotherhood members.”

“Silence about these crimes facilitates the occurrence of more human rights abuses. People who think that human rights abuses are only committed against the Muslim Brotherhood need to review what has happened in the past five months,” Hassan said, mentioning clashes in Tahrir Square on November 19, 2013 between protesters and the riot police which led to the death of one protester.

Hassan also pointed to the detention of activists Ahmed Douma, Alaa Abd El Fattah and Ahmed Maher, “three symbols of the revolution in prison at the same time. At no point since January 25, 2011 has this happened.”

Hassan said that police oppression is made easier by the Interior Ministry’s “good relationship” with the public prosecution office, which he alleged fails to keep police abuse in check. Deputy Director of the Egyptian Institute for Personal Rights Gasser Abdel Razek echoed this, saying that current events signal a return to a police state.

Hassan also criticized the committee of 50 responsible for drafting the new Constitution, saying that while they are “respectable people,” what is happening in the country at the same time as they are drafting the Constitution “proves that it is a Constitution written on toilet paper and worthless.”

“Public opinion must wake up to the danger of the current situation. Those who do not object to attacks on others must eventually pay the price themselves,” Hassan warned.