Three human rights activists in Egypt were sentenced with five years imprisonment despite pressures coming from the United States government against it.
The International Christian Concern (ICC) reported that the Egyptian court sentenced the activists last week after the United States conveyed intentions to keep a close eye on the country's human rights conditions in line with its alliance.
The United States threatened to withhold military aid to Egypt in the hope that its human rights conditions would improve. The United States Commission on International Religious Freedom has recommended in its 2021 Annual Report to place Egypt in the Department of State's Special Watch List for countries "engage in or tolerate severe violations of religious freedom."
As per ICC, the three activists are Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed el-Baqer, and Mohamed Ibrahim. These men were convicted on charges of spreading fake news and for joining a terrorist group.
"The convictions fall in line with a pattern of human rights violations from the Egyptian government in cracking down on dissidents and human rights defenders," the ICC explained.
The ICC said part of the Egyptian government's crackdown on human rights involve an advocate on a persecuted Coptic Christian community named Ramy Kamel. Founding member of the Coptic Maspero Youth Union, Kamel is said to be held in detention for more than two years, which is the maximum permitted for those who have not been given their trial yet as per the Egyptian Penal Code Article 143.
The Maspero Youth Union, a human rights group, was founded after the Maspero massacre that happened in October 2011. The massacre involved 20 Coptic members who were holding a peaceful civil rights protest killed by the Egyptian military.
Kamel was arrested and kept in custody since November 2019 for terrorism-related charges, although most believe he is detained for his involvement with the Coptic community. During this time, Kamel was kept in solitary confinement for 20 months.
"Although Kamel was imprisoned under Egypt's long-running state of emergency, he remains in prison without a court date despite the recent lifting of the state of emergency," the ICC highlighted.
On the other hand, another Coptic rights activist, Patrick Zaki, was given conditional release last December 15 after spending 22 months in prison without a trial. Zaki's release is said to be a "rare success case for Egyptian human rights." Human rights activists call Zaki's release as Egyptian President Abdel Fattah Sisi's way of clearing his reputation due to the international pressure on the country, as per comments of Ahmed Al-Attar who is one of the activists.
"(President Abdel Fattah) Sisi would like to have a good reputation in the world and the news of Patrick's release will now be published in Italian and European newspapers. He is whitewashing his reputation,"Al-Attar told the ICC.
Being a temporary release, Zaki will be returning for his trial on February 1, 2022. Zaki is said to be a researcher pursuing a Master's degree in Italy. Zaki advocated the case of Italian Giulo Regeni who was accused of spying on Egypt and for which he was tortured and killed. His advocacy on Regeni's case led the Italian government to grant Zaki honorary citizenship that helped expedite his release.
