Student Israa al-Taweel has been released on health grounds, but is under house arrest and must report to the police every week.
The Cairo Criminal Court ordered the release of Israa al-Taweel
on 19 December on health grounds. She had been held without charge in
pre-trial detention since her arrest on 1 June 2015. She was held for
two weeks in conditions of enforced disappearance, while security forces
prevented her from contacting her family and officials repeatedly told
her family that she was not in detention.
According
to her lawyer, the 23-year-old student with a disability has been
released from prison but is being kept under house arrest. She is
allowed out only for medical treatment and other essential purposes,
with police permission. She will also have to report to Cairo’s Boulaq
al-Dakrour Police Station every week. A court session is supposed to be
scheduled 45 days after her release, to decide whether these measures
should continue or be cancelled.
It
appears that Israa al-Taweel was arrested because she had been
socializing with two of her friends, who were wanted by the security
forces. These two friends are now facing a military trial. She had been
taken on 15 June to the State Security Prosecutor’s office in Cairo, and
questioned for 18 hours without her lawyer present, over suspicion of
charges that included “belonging to a banned group” and “broadcasting
false news” as she had been carrying a camera when she was arrested.
Click here for more information and addresses.
Public
Prosecutor
Nabil
Sadek
Office
of the Public Prosecutor
Madinat
Al-Rihab
New
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Salutation: Dear Counsellor
President
Abdel
Fattah al-Sisi
Office
of the President
Al
Ittihadia Palace
Cairo,
Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax:
+202 2 391 1441
Email:
p.spokesman@op.gov.eg
Twitter:
@AlsisiOfficial
Salutation: Your Excellency
And copies to:
Deputy
Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights
Mahy
Hassan Abdel Latif
Ministry
of Foreign Affairs
Corniche
al-Nil
Cairo,
Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax:
+202 2574 9713
Email:
Contact.Us@mfa.gov.eg
Twitter: @MfaEgypt
Also send copies to:
Ambassador
Yasser Reda, Embassy of Egypt
3521
International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008
Fax:
202 244 4319 -OR- 202 244 5131 I Phone: 202 895 5400 I Email:
embassy@egyptembdc.org
