The European Parliament issues a statement rebuking Egypt for ongoing human rights violations: Whereas after the military coup of July 2013, the violations of fundamental freedoms and human rights – including arrests, violence, incitement, hate speech, harassment, intimidation and censorship, against political opponents, peaceful protesters, journalists, bloggers, trade unionists, civil society activists and minorities, on the part of state authorities, security forces and services, and other groups – have acquired alarming proportions in Egypt; whereas, in the absence of the parliament, a number of repressive laws have been passed by the government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, such as the presidential decree Law 136 of 2014 designating all public property as military installations, the most immediate consequence of which is that any crime committed on public property can be tried in military courts and with a retroactive effect; ... whereas an estimated 1 400 protestors have been killed as a result of excessive and arbitrary use of force by security forces since July 2013; whereas on 14 August 2013 around 1 000 protestors were killed during the violent dispersal of pro-Morsi sit-ins in Raba’a al-Adawiya and al-Nahda Squares; whereas not a single security official has been held accountable for such acts or other abuses against protestors over the past year; ... whereas the Court of Cassation, Egypt ́s highest court of law, ruled that there were procedural failings in the trial of Al-Jazeera journalists Mohammed Fahmy, Peter Greste and Baher Mohamed; whereas, however, the three journalists are set for retrial and the charges of ‘falsifying news’ and ‘involvement with the Muslim Brotherhood’ against them have not been dropped; whereas on 2 December 2014 an Egyptian criminal court handed down provisional death sentences against 188 defendants in the third such mass sentencing in 2014; whereas these mass trials have principally targeted members of the Muslim Brotherhood... Whereas severe restrictions on NGOs and political associations operating in Egypt have the effect of completely closing down civil society; ... whereas the state-sponsored violations of basic human rights in Egypt, particularly in the Sinai peninsula, exacerbate the threat of terrorism by contributing to the rise of extremist organisations pledging their allegiance to the terrorist ‘Islamic State’; ... Calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all persons detained solely for exercising their right to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly, including human rights defenders Yara Salam and Sanaa Ahmed Seif; calls on the Egyptian authorities to annul the ban on the April 6 Youth Movement and the sentences against the organisation ́s activists and to drop the designation of the principal opposition organisation Muslim Brotherhood as a terrorist group; reiterates that only building a truly pluralistic society, respectful of the diversity of views and lifestyles, can ensure long-term stability and security in Egypt; ... Is dismayed by the loss of independence and impartiality of the criminal justice system in Egypt, which has become a tool of repression by the government; Calls on the competent Egyptian authorities to repeal or amend the Protest Law and to review the new NGO bill presented by the Ministry of Social Solidarity, in line with Articles 65, 73 and 75 of the Egyptian Constitution, international standards and the country’s international obligations, Expresses serious doubts with regards to the fairness, inclusiveness and credibility of the parliamentary elections announced for no later than March 2015, given the context of continued restrictions on basic human rights and freedoms and the revised electoral framework which does not guarantee an adequately pluralistic and representative electoral process; Urges the VP/HR, the Council and the Commission to conduct the EU policies towards Egypt in the spirit of the ‘more for more’ and ‘less for less’ principle, making any further assistance to the Egyptian Government, including financial assistance, conditional on achieving specific benchmarks for improvements in the human rights area; Calls for an EU-wide ban on the export to Egypt of intrusion and surveillance technologies which could be used to spy on and repress citizens, and for a ban, in line with the Wassenaar Arrangement, on the export of security equipment or military aid that could be used to suppress peaceful protest; europarl.europa.eu/sides/getDoc.do?pubRef=-//EP//NONSGML+MOTION+B8-2015-0012+0+DOC+PDF+V0//EN فقرة #اخترنا_لك
Posted on: Sat, 17 Jan 2015 06:58:47 +0000
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