And Egypt knows, sees while staying patient

But she passes within a wink

Reclaiming name and addresses

Poet: Abdul Rahman Al Abnoudi

 

 

About this report

This brief report contains a series of pending cases and files whose fate remains uncertain, they did raise a lot of controversy and different reactions, discussed by many media platforms, their developments were discussed and followed up by bloggers and public opinion on social media. Some of them were brought to courts.

But over time, attention to these issues has faded, among the public as well as among officials.

This decline was not due to them being resolved, nor the disclosure of facts or details about them, and it was not for taking the necessary measures to hold accountable and punish the perpetrators, but due to the abundance of new incidents and accelerating events.

Therefore, since the role of legal and human rights organizations is to sound the alarm, fight against blackout and impunity, and against the wasting of the value of justice, we have chosen to present some examples of such pending cases, remembering them, removing the dust of disregard from them. We list them in a chronological order, to ask what happened with the older ones, in order to figure out how the newest will turn out!

Examples of Pending Cases
1- Aya Hegazy and Beladi Case:
In 2013, Aya Hegazi and Mohammed Hassanein, her husband, established Beladi foundation to help street children.

On May 1, 2014, the security forces arrested Aya and her husband, while the public prosecution claimed that a report from a parent accusing the association of detaining his son was the motive for their arrest.[1]

For three years, Hegazi and Hassanein were held in pretrial detention.

On April 16, 2017, Aya and her husband were acquitted.[2]

 

Yet a question, or rather questions, remain unanswered:

• Why did Hegazy and her husband spend three years in pretrial detention despite their innocence?
• Is it true that the acquittal was a political decision after the intervention of US president Donald Trump, especially after the statement of the White House spokesman, Sean Spicer, to the US media confirming the US president’s intervention to release the activist who holds the American citizenship? [3]
• Why didn’t the Egyptian side respond to Trump’s statements? And why imprison innocent people for three years?

 

2- General Ibrahim Abdul Aati and Treating AIDS with Kofta
On February 23, 2014, Major General Ibrahim Abdul Aati announced at a press conference by the Armed Forces Engineering Authority that he invented a device capable of treating both AIDS and Hepatitis C patients, Abdul Aati said: “I take the HIV from the patient and return it to him as a kofta”, therefore, the invention became known publicly by the name of “the Kofta machine”.[4] The military Engineering Authority also set June 30 of the same year as the launching date for the treatment of patients. From the date of the so-called proposal announcement till now, there has been no developments about it and it was not mentioned, except by the public as a joke.

Turning the “alleged discovery” into a joke or a substance for satire, does not prevent multiple questions from arising:

• Why were official institutions involved in such misinformation?
• Why didn’t an official go out publicly to discredit this claim, and declare that the one responsible will be held accountable?
• Where is equality before the law, where the government declares day and night punishment for those who promote false news, while not only condoning these lies, but also the media close to the regime have even defamed whoever criticized the “Kofta machine”?

3- Salah Diab’s weapon case
On November 8, 2015, security forces arrested businessman Salah Diab from his home after claiming that they had found two automatic rifles with him.[5] His photo was released immediately after his arrest to show how he looked startled and broken!

On November 11, 2015, Salah Diab was released on bail of EGP 50,000.[6]

On September 18, 2017, Giza Criminal Court acquitted Salah Diab.[7]

 

It is remarkable that all speculationabout the reason behind what happened with the businessman did not include combating corruption.[8]

Circumstances surrounding the arrest of Salah Diab and his release three days later arouses  questions:

• Is there a real case against Salah Diab or is it a show off to terrify a businessman who did something that angered the regime?
• Why did the Ministry of Interior rush to publish his photo once he was arrested though it is known that a defendant is presumed innocent until proven guilty?
• Why did the media publish news aboutthe claim that he had weapons in his possession before continuing the investigation, as he was later acquitted?

 

4- Giulio Regeni :

The Italian PhD student, who disappeared on January 25, 2016, then his corpse was found deformed in a hole on a desert road on February 3, 2016.

The Egyptian side’s investigations have not yet resulted in anything, despite the fact that many media figures close to the government, sometimes to discredit the victim, other times claiming that a gang killed him! Especially as a statement by the Egyptian Interior Ministry on March 24, 2016, said it has eliminated a gang for taking part in the killing of Giulio Regeni, without overwhelming evidence of the allegation, prompting the Italian side not to believe the story[9] .

Several meetings and discussions between the Egyptian and Italian investigation teams were held, and nothing was added except more ambiguity and vagueness, in which light went down on the case and the question remained:

• Why did the identity of the killers remain suspended, arousing doubts and opening the door for the question: is there a deliberate attempt to cover up the case and extend the investigation endlessly!

But the Italian prosecutor, addressing parliament in December 2019, accused Egyptian officials of attempting to mislead investigations[10] This was followed by a decision by the Egyptian Public Prosecutor in January 2020 to form a new investigative committee to take over the case[11].

 

• The Five accused of murdering Giulio Regeni:

Tarek Saad, Saad Tarek; a father and son and their in-law Salah Ali, along with Ibrahim Farouq, a micro bus driver and Mostafa Bakr, Salah’s friend: five murdered victims. After the Interior Ministry declared the elimination of a five-member gang, claiming that the victims were specialized in kidnapping foreigners and stealing them by force, in an attempt that was doomed to fail to close the Italian researcher’s murder file. They even claimed that they had the Regeni’s bag. But they were declared innocent afterwards, and the question remains:

• Who stands behind an attempt to close the case of Regeni by killing innocent individuals who were proven to have nothing with his case according to evidence shown by their families.[12]
• How did the elimination process pass without accountability?
• Who are they and why weren’t they punished for what they have done?

 
5- The Escape of Habib al-Adly:
On May 15, 2017, the Ministry of Interior notified the Public Prosecutor’s Office that Habib al-Adly had escaped from his home and could not be arrested to carry out the sentence imposed by the Criminal Court in the case of the seizure of Interior Ministry funds[13]، despite his lawyer’s statement that al-Adly would attendthe Cassation court session in person[14].

Habib al-Adly appeared in the Court of Cassation,  the appeal was accepted. He was acquitted after being retried on May 9, 2019, session.

Yet some questions need answers:

• Did the Ministry of Interior exert enough efforts to arrest al-Adly during his escape before the acceptance of the appeal?
• Nobody knows how could al-Adly be acquitted meanwhile official gazettes published numerous reports about his wealth which amounted to billions?

 
6- Assaulting Counselor Hisham Genina:
On January 27, 2018, former CAA chief Counselor Hisham Genina was assaulted by unknown assailants with cold weapons[15].

This incident came before his arrest on 13 February 2018[16].

After being held in custody for a few days, the assailants were acquitted and released on the basis of forensic reports that incriminated the Counselor, as the former head of the Central Auditing Agency (CAA) turned from a victim to a perpetrator[17].

The prosecution appealed against the decision to release the assailants, the appeal was rejected and the decision to release them was upheld.

The unanswered question remains:

• How were the defendants acquitted?And how did they become victims instead of assailants?

 
7- Mostafa Al Naggar’s disappearance:
In September 2018, Dr. Mostafa al-Naggar disappeared and the news of his disappearance followed a major uproar, which was terminated by the Al-Dostor newspaper by publishing the news of his arrest on 13 October 2018.”https://www.dostor.org/2358355” But Egyptian authorities denied knowing his whereabouts nor arresting him, which raised a state of anxiety and many questions :

• What about the news published by the newspaper Al-Dostor, whose editor-in-chief is close to the government?
• What about engineer Wael Ghuneim, who announced through a video recorded in February 2020, that Mostafa al-Naggar died while trying to escape through the country’s southern border[18]?
• The government is not only responsible for not hiding citizens, but also for searching for missing people, why the interior did not announce a search for a former MP, an Egyptian citizen, while it issues a statement for almost every incident?

 
8- Repeatative assaults against Gamal Eid:
Despite the repeated attacks on human rights lawyer and director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information Gamal Eid, and the filing of a report each time with the details of these attacks, the reports always reach a standstill and an unknown fate. To raise real questions that raise doubts about the unknown/known:

• In the stealing of his car incident, despiteinformation about the thieves, and footage of the car from security cameras, why was the case frozen? And the car remains stolen?
• In the physical assault incident against him causing fractured ribs, despite hearing witnesses, having the prosecution to examine the place and watching videos that confirm the violent act, why didn’t the prosecution investigate the police officers of Basatin police station who deliberately provided them with false investigations?
• In the incident of smashing the car Gamal Eid borrowed from his colleague, the damage and smashes were apparent, the prosecution examined the scene.Why did the prosecution consider it an act of vandalism?A mere violation? Why didn’t it hold the culprits accountable?
• After human rights lawyer Gamal Eid was attacked for the fourth time by armed officers, his face and his clothes were drenchedin paint, why didn’t the prosecution investigate the crime scene despite its promises to do so?
• Why did it ask the police officers of Al Basatin police station to present investigations, while they are opponents?
• Does the prosecution close the case deliberately without uncovering the assailants or punishing them to contribute to the phenomenon of impunity?

 
9- Death of Shadi Habash during his illegal detention:
A 20-year-old Egyptian filmmaker contributed to the release of a satirical political song, then he was punished by imprisonment in March 2018, pending case 480 for 2018State Security. Shadi Habash exceeded the maximum legal limit for pretrial detention in March 2020. He was not released. On May 2, 2020, friends and family of Shadi Habash were surprised by the news of his death in prison!

Legal and serious questions:

• How did Shadi die?

 

• Why did the Public Prosecution, in its statement, ignore the fact that he had exceeded the limit for pretrial detention and became illegally imprisoned?
• What about the responsibility of the prison physician who misdiagnosed Shadi’s case and consequently prescribed for him the wrong medication for Alcohol intoxication?
• Why does the Public Prosecutor continue to impose prolonged pretrial detention, which is illegal and unfair, like the case of Shadi and the above-mentioned case of Aya Hegazy?

 

Conclusion:

These are some pending cases that repeat certain questions and remind of them, in an attempt to urge the Egyptian authorities to show political and legal will to implement the law and put an end to its violation, and to stop the diluting of justice by blacking out these cases and others, which waste the citizens’ right to feel safe, secure and the belief of equality before the law.

An attempt to stop the destabilization of the citizens’ trust in the justice system and in the values of justice and humanity. A question remains, that needs to be raised and insisting on demanding an answer for, in order to avoid reaching this state of mistrust between the citizen and the justice system:

When will all these questions be answered concerning the above-mentioned cases, as well as other pending cases?

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[1]                                             BBC: Who is Aya Hegazy that America asks Egypt to release?- Published September 21, 2016 – last visit: May 2020 https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast/2016/09/160920_egypt_aya_usa

[2]                                             Al Youm Al Sabee: With pictures. Aya Hegazy embraces her husband inside the cage after being acquitted of human trafficking – Published April 16, 2017 – Browsed May 2020 https://www.youm7.com/story/2017/4/16/%D8%A8%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B5%D9%88%D8%B1-%D8%A2%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%AD%D8%AC%D8%A7%D8%B2%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%AD%D8%AA%D8%B6%D9%86-%D8%B2%D9%88%D8%AC%D9%87%D8%A7-%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%82%D9%81%D8%B5-%D8%A8%D8%B9%D8%AF-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AD%D9%83%D9%85-%D8%A8%D8%A8%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%A1%D8%AA%D9%87%D9%85%D8%A7/3192415

[3]                                             Al Masry Al Youm: Trump and the innocence of Aya Hegazy – Published April 23, 2017 – browsed May 2020 https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/1122630

[4]                                             The Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm: The full story of the AIDS and Hepatitis C Treatment System (chronological) – Published June 23, 2014 – Date of browsing May 2020                https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/469329

 

[5]                                             Al Dostor: Salah Diab’s son is imprisoned for 4 days for possessing a weapon without a license – Published November 8, 2015 – Date of browsing May 2020                https://www.dostor.org/925466

 

[6]                                             Al Youm Al Sabee: Salah Diab and his son Tawfiq were released on bail – Published November 11, 2015 – Date of browsing May 2020 https://www.youm7.com/story/2015/11/11/%D8%A5%D8%AE%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%A1-%D8%B3%D8%A8%D9%8A%D9%84-%D8%B1%D8%AC%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D8%B9%D9%85%D8%A7%D9%84-%D8%B5%D9%84%D8%A7%D8%AD-%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%A7%D8%A8-%D9%88%D9%86%D8%AC%D9%84%D9%87-%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%81%D9%8A%D9%82-%D8%A8%D9%83%D9%81%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A9/2435873

[7]                                     .Al Shorouk: Businessman Salah Diab cleared of Arms possession charge – Published September 18, 2017 – Date of Browse May 2020 https://www.shorouknews.com/news/view.aspx?cdate=18092017&id=f6ce025c-b247-464e-86cc-df09f4efce68

 

[8]                                             Al Shorouk: Salah Diab’s arrest: ‘Anything but fighting Corruption’ – Published November 15, 2015 – Date of Browse May 2020 https://www.shorouknews.com/columns/view.aspx?cdate=15112015&id=97d5168f-fb28-453c-8fd0-4b70ef678ac6

[9]                                             Masrawi: First Italian response to “Interior” statement on Giulio Regini’s killers Posted on 24 March 2016 – May 2020 https://www.masrawy.com/news/news_egypt/details/2016/3/25/775165/%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84-%D8%B1%D8%AF-%D8%A5%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%A7%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AF%D8%A7%D8%AE%D9%84%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D8%B4%D8%A3%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%A9-%D8%AC%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%88-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A

[10]                                         BBC: Italian prosecution says Egyptian security services have fabricated stories of mislead the investigations – dated 18 December 2019 – browsing date May 2020 https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-50840214

[11]                                         Sky News: Egypt announces new decision in Italian student Regeni’s murder case – Published January 15, 2020 – browsing date May 2020 https://www.skynewsarabia.com/middle-east/1313005-%D9%85%D8%B5%D8%B1-%D8%AA%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%86-%D9%82%D8%B1%D8%A7%D8%B1%D8%A7-%D8%AC%D8%AF%D9%8A%D8%AF%D8%A7-%D9%82%D8%B6%D9%8A%D8%A9-%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%84-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A8-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A7%D9%95%D9%8A%D8%B7%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%8A-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A

[12]                                         ^{Dot Masr: For the first time. The five killed stories in the “Regini incident” by their parents – Published April 6, 2016 – browsing history May 2020}http://www.dotmsr.com/news/196/495612/%D9%84%D9%84%D9%85%D8%B1%D8%A9-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%A3%D9%88%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%82%D8%B5%D8%B5-%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85%D9%82%D8%AA%D9%88%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%86-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%AE%D9%85%D8%B3%D8%A9-%D9%81%D9%8A-%D8%AD%D8%A7%D8%AF%D8%AB-%D8%B1%D9%8A%D8%AC%D9%8A%D9%86%D9%8A-%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%89-%D9%84%D8%B3%D8%A7%D9%86

[13]                                         Al-Masry Al-Youm: Al-Interior Ministry officially notified the prosecution: Habib Al-Adly’s escape from his home and search is underway – Published May 15, 2017 – Date of browsing May 2020 https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/1134265

[14]                                         Akhbar Al Youm: 10 Information summarizing Al-Adly’s journey from ‘escape’ until his surrender – Published on 11 January 2018 – browsing history May 2020 https://akhbarelyom.com/news/newdetails/2602834/1/10-%D9%85%D8%B9%D9%84%D9%88%D9%85%D8%A7%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D9%84%D8%AE%D8%B5-%D8%B1%D8%AD%D9%84%D8%A9–%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D8%AF%D9%84%D9%8A–%D9%85%D9%86–%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%87%D8%B1%D9%88%D8%A8–%D8%AD%D8%AA%D9%89-%D8%AA%D8%B3%D9%84%D9%8A%D9%85-%D9%86%D9%81%D8%B3%D9%87

[15]                                 Al Masry Al Youm: Unknown people attack Hisham Genina with white weapons. His lawyer reveals the details – Published January 27, 2018 – May 2020 https://www.almasryalyoum.com/news/details/1250798

 

[16]                                 BBC: Egyptian security forces arrest Hisham Genina after his statements on Sami Annan – Published February 13, 2018 – browsing date May 2020 https://www.bbc.com/arabic/middleeast-43044432

 

[17]                                 Al Bawaba News: By Documents: Forensic report shows Hisham Genina was lying  – Published January 30, 2018 – Date of Browseback May 2020 https://www.albawabhnews.com/2923751

 

[18]                                         Al Dostor: Wael Ghoneim settles the debate over the fate of Mustafa Al-Najjar, published February 15, 2020, the date of the browsing May 2020 https://www.dostor.org/3002890