Cairo: 9 January 2019
The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) announced today that it has released its fifth report by “Lawyers for Democracy Initiative” on the state of the democratic path in Egypt during 2018. The report, entitled “Mounting Anger” provides details through monitoring and documentation about the situation of the democratic path in Egypt in figures, along with the issues and measures that could affect, negatively or positively, the democratic process in Egypt.
The report, issued for the fifth year in a row, includes six different chapters; the first is on “Protest events” which monitored 485 various events that took place during the year, including events that faced security attacks and those that didn’t.
The second chapter “Ongoing trials and judicial rulings” monitors trials of the various political powers, court rulings, death sentences, and military trials for civilians. The third chapter, entitled “Terrorism and counter-terrorism operations” follows the terrorist operations that took place in Egypt’s different governorates and how the security forces confronted them. The fourth chapter, “Attacks on freedom of expression and media freedoms” documents the violations against freedom of expression throughout the year, while the fifth chapter “Attacks against human rights defenders” records cases of harassment and abuse that human rights defenders endured during the year. The sixth and last chapter, entitled “Influential milestones in the democratic path”, covers a number of important incidents and events that affected the state of democracy in Egypt.
Among the figures and numbers included in the report:
24 military trials for 1,562 civilians, 68 death sentences for 682 defendants, 152 of which were upheld by the Court of Cassation, in addition to 117 violations against human rights defenders, and 138 attacks on freedom of expression.
ANHRI said: “2018 has undergone an expansion in repression and the closure of the public sphere. Those concerned with public affairs have become targets for surveillance and persecution. Repression became not only limited to judicial decisions, prolonged pretrial detention, smear campaigns and travel bans against journalists, social media activists, and human rights defenders, but also extends to former judges, such as Hesham Geneina the former head of the Central Auditing Authority (CAA), and former Justice Minister Advisor Ahmed Suleiman. ”
ANHRI added: “The attempts of the Egyptian authorities to close the public sphere and curb various media outlets are still ongoing. The authorities issued flawed legislation concerning the establishment of the National Media Commission, the Law on Regulating the Press and Media, the Supreme Media Regulatory Council (SMRC), and the Cybercrime law, which collectively intensify the siege on the professional and independent journalism in Egypt.”
You can read the report through the following link:
Mounting Anger…The Democratic Path in Egypt 2018
Mounting Anger…The Democratic Path in Egypt 2018 PDF
