The participants at the Second Civil Society Planning Meeting for the Forum for the Future, held in Istanbul on 2-3 August 2008, expressed in a letter/appeal their deep concern about the continuous prosecutorial hounding of Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim by the Egyptian authorities.
Participants at the meeting, organised in the framework of the Democracy Assistance Dialogue (DAD) program by the three DAD NGOs partners (No Peace Without Justice-Italy, Turkish Economic and Social Studies Foundation-Turkey, Human Rights Information and Training Center-Yemen), from 14 countries of the MENA region denounced the protracted persecution of Professor Ibrahim in his own country, which harms the image of Egypt more than it harms the image of a well-known defender of human rights and democracy in Egypt and throughout the Arab world.
Text of the Statement on the Conviction of Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim
Second Civil Society Planning Meeting for the Forum for the Future
Statement on the Conviction of Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim
We – participants of the Second Civil Society Planning Meeting for the Forum for the Future which bring together activists from 38 countries, held in Istanbul on 2-3 August 2008, with Democracy being one of the main themes – are deeply concerned about the continuous prosecutorial hounding of Professor Saad Eddin Ibrahim by the Egyptian authorities, the last of which was the indictment, hasty trial and conviction on the flimsy charge of “harming Egypt’s image abroad” and two-year sentence on 2 August 2008.
As advocates of Democracy and Human Rights, we know the long struggle of Professor Ibrahim, admire his dedication, and applaud his peaceful and academic pursuit of these ideals for the benefit of Egypt and the Arab world.
We urge the political and judiciary authorities of Egypt to end the practice of persecuting human rights defenders, and to allow Professor Ibrahim to exercise his fundamental right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression, ending these repeated prosecutions, in violation of Egypt’s international commitments under Article 19 of the Universal Declaration for Human Rights and the UN Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, for the same exact charges for which he was tried and imprisoned for three years in 2000, before being eventually acquitted from all charges by the Egyptian High Court in 2003.
It is not Professor Ibrahim’s writings but it is rather the repeated persecution against human rights defenders which are harming the image of Egypt abroad.
We call upon like-minded democrats and governments to stand in solidarity with Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and make their views known to the Egyptian authorities.
Participants included:
Nadia Ait-Zai, Centre CIDDEF, Algeria
Nabeel Tammam, Bahrain Human Rights Society, Bahrain
Ebtisam Khamees , Bahrain Young Ladies Association, Bahrain
Ahmed Rizk, Ibn Khaldun Center, Egypt
Nabila Hamza, Foundation for the Future, Tunisia
Bakhtiar Amin, International Alliance for Justice, Iraq
Gianluca Eramo, No Peace Without Justive, Italy
Niccolo Figà-Talamanca, No Peace Without Justive, Italy
Asim Rababa, Adaleh Center, Jordan
Rola Dashti, Kuwait Economic Society, Kuwait
Huda Chalak, Organization for Civil Action, Lebanon
Amine Boayach, Organization Marocaine des Droits Humains, Morocco
Iyad Bargouthi, Ramallah Center for Human Rights Studies, Palestine
Mensur Akgun, TESEV / GPoT Center, Turkey
Sylvia Tiryaki, TESEV / GPoT Center, Turkey
Sanem Guner, TESEV , Turkey
Ozlem Gemici, TESEV , Turkey
Sabiha Senyucel, TESEV , Turkey
Aybars Gorgulu, TESEV , Turkey
Ceren Ak, TESEV , Turkey
Can Yirik, GPoT Center, Turkey
Esra Köse, GPoT Center, Turkey
Khalid Al Hosni, Emirates Human Rights Association, UAE
Reem Obeidat, Consultant, UAE
Amal Basha, Sisters Arab Forum, Yemen
Ezzeddin Al Asbahi, Human Rights Information and Training Center, Yemen
Mohammed Al-Mikhlafi, Yemeni Observatory for Human Rights , Yemen
Yousuf Aburas, Human Rights Information and Training Center, Yemen
Khalid Al Ansi, , Yemen
For further information: Gianluca Eramo, email: geramo@npwj.org; telephone: +32 2 548 3910
