Take Action for Hossam Bahgat
Your Excellency,
On 23 February 2016, journalist and human rights defender Mr Hossam Bahgat was prevented by Egyptian authorities from traveling from Cairo International Airport to Jordan in order to participate in a United Nations conference on justice in the Arab world, and informed that he had been placed under a travel ban following an order of the Public Prosecutor.
Hossam Bahgat is a prominent Egyptian journalist and an investigative reporter at Mada Masr, an independent Cairo-based online newspaper focusing on political change and civil liberties and human rights in Egypt. He is also the former director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), an independent Egyptian human rights organization formed to protect civil liberties and economic and social rights in Egypt. The human rights defender has written extensively on subjects deemed sensitive by Egyptian authorities, such as corruption involving the family of former Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak, secret military trials and their use against civilians, and the increasing powers of Egypt's army.
On 23 February 2016, while on route to Jordan to present a speech at a UN Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia conference on justice in the Arab world, security forces at Cairo International Airport prevented Hossam Bahgat from traveling on the basis of an order from the Public Prosecutor placing him under a travel ban. The human rights defender had not received any prior notification of the travel ban, nor been informed of any criminal case against him.
In November 2015, Hossam Bahgat was detained for four days and interrogated at the headquarters of the Military Intelligence in connection with his publication of reports concerning Egypt's military on the Mada Masr news website.
Travel bans have increasingly been used in Egypt to intimidate and silence critical human rights defenders. Often they are made without clear reasoning being provided by security officials. On 4 February 2016, a travel ban was imposed upon the human rights lawyer Mr Gamal Eid. He had not previously been notified of the travel ban against him or summoned for investigation on any grounds. In January 2016, Egyptian security at Cairo International Airport prevented the human rights defender and poet Mr Omar Hazek from traveling to Amsterdam to receive an award on freedom of expression from PEN International. Mr Mohamed Lotfy, the founder and executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), has been under a travel ban since June 2015, when he was prevented from traveling to Berlin to speak on the situation of human rights in Egypt at a round table organised in the German parliament. On 13 January 2015, police officers prevented the digital media specialist and human rights defender Ms Esraa Abdel Fattah from boarding a flight to Germany from Cairo International Airport. Travel bans have also been imposed on human rights defenders Messrs Hossameldin Ali, Ahmed Ghonim and Bassem Samir of the Egyptian Democratic Academy, to whom it was explained that their bans were ordered in connection with an ongoing judicial investigation into illegal foreign funding allegedly received by human rights organisations in Egypt, which began in 2011.
I am concerned by the travel ban imposed on Hossam Bahgat and strongly fear that this step may be followed by his interrogation and prosecution.
I urge the authorities in Egypt to:
1. Immediately and unconditionally remove the travel ban imposed against Hossam Bahgat and all other human rights defenders facing travel restrictions in Egypt, as I believe that their rights are being restricted solely as a result of their legitimate and peaceful work in the defence of human rights;
2. Guarantee in all circumstances that all human rights defenders in Egypt are able to carry out their legitimate human rights activities without fear of reprisals and free of all restrictions.
Sincerely,
