UK ‘deeply concerned’ by arrest of Egyptian human rights advocates

The arrest of Karim Ennarah (pictured) and his colleague Mohamed Basheer was described as an 'alarming escalation' of Egypt's human rights crackdown

The UK is “deeply concerned” about the arrests of two members of a prominent Egyptian human rights group that recently hosted Western diplomats in Cairo, a Foreign Office spokesperson said Thursday.

Karim Ennarah, director of criminal justice at advocacy group Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, was arrested Wednesday, three days after EIPR’s administrative director Mohamed Basheer was detained.

Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab has raised their case with his Egyptian counterpart Sameh Shoukry, the Foreign Office said. 

“Human rights defenders should be able to work without fear of arrest or reprisals, wherever they are,” a spokesperson said. 

EIPR says its staff were targeted by Egyptian authorities because the group held a meeting on November 3 to discuss human rights in Egypt with 13 Western ambassadors and diplomats, including UK Deputy Ambassador Neerav Patel. 

Ambassador Geoffrey Adams did not attend as he was in Alexandria attending a Royal Navy ship visit.

On Thursday, Mr Ennarah appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo, 24 hours after his detention in the Red Sea resort town of Dahab, EIPR said.

He was ordered into pretrial detention for 15 days in the same pending case as his colleague Mr Basheer,  who is suspected of “terrorism" and “spreading false news”. The case also involves other detained high-profile human rights defenders and journalists.

Mr Ennarah’s wife Jessica Kelly said her husband had been accused of “funding and belonging to a terrorist organisation”. 

“Totally baseless accusations but that are sadly very often levelled at human rights defenders in Egypt,” said Ms Kelly, a British filmmaker.

France expressed its concern after the arrest of Mr Bashir on Tuesday. “France maintains a frank and demanding dialogue with Egypt on the issue of human rights, including on individual cases,” the French foreign ministry said.

Egypt rejected what it called France’s “interference”  in an “Egyptian internal matter”.

“The Egyptian state respects the principles of the rule of law and equality before it, and that work in any area should be as regulated by the applicable laws and those who violate it are held accountable,”  Egyptian foreign ministry spokesman Ahmed Hafez said in a statement  Wednesday.

Human Rights Watch said the UK government should pressure Egypt to respect fundamental rights.

“They should halt arms transfers and security assistance to Egypt and condition them on concrete human rights improvement,” said Amr Magdi, the group’s Egypt researcher.

Egypt’s former army chief turned president Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has systematically repressed opposition since assuming power in a 2013 military coup that ousted the country’s first democratically elected president Mohammed Morsi.

Morsi’s group the Muslim Brotherhood was promptly declared a terrorist organisation and thousands of its supporters arrested. But the continuing crackdown has also targeted civil society members, lawyers, journalists and members of the LGBTQ community.

President Sisi told “60 Minutes” in January 2019 that there was no mass political incarceration in Egypt.

"We don’t have political prisoners, or prisoners of opinion," he said in an interview his government later tried to block CBS News from broadcasting. 

Human Rights Watch estimates at least 60,000 people have been arrested in Egypt on political grounds.

Ms Kellly said she was overwhelmed by the support shown for her husband “both from friends and by the foreign governments who are lobbying for his release”.

She added: “Karim is the kind of person who immediately makes a mark on you when you meet him, I am so proud of him and his work.”