A Statement by leading MEPs on the recent arrests of staff members working for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) was issued today.
“We are appalled by the arrests of Mohamed Basheer, Karim Ennarah and Gasser Abdel-Razek, who are senior staff members working for the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). EIPR is a prominent Egyptian human rights organisation and one of the few remaining ones that openly advocates for basic freedoms in Egypt, where the government has been adopting repressive policies against all independent voices. These are dramatic developments, since the first of the three arrests came just hours after a meeting between EIPR and diplomats, including from the EU, and constitutes a new level of crackdown on NGOs.
We call for the release of all those detained in Egypt for peacefully exercising their rights to freedom of expression and association.”
The statement was co-signed by: Maria Arena (S&D, BE), Chair of the Subcommittee on Human Rights; Isabel Santos (S&D, PT), Chair of the delegation for relations with the Mashreq countries; Mounir Satouri (The Greens/EFA, FR), the European Parliament’s standing rapporteur on Egypt.
In addition over 50 organisations from across the world stand in solidarity with the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and urge the immediate and unconditional release of the arrested senior staff members.
