HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH
Draconian Sentences for 51 Including Journalists and Media Workers
A review of the prosecution’s evidence in a mass trial of 51 alleged supporters of
Egypt’s
Muslim Brotherhood shows that the government presented no evidence of
criminal behavior besides the testimony of one police officer.
On April 11, 2015, an Egyptian judge convicted and sentenced 37 people
to life in prison and confirmed the death penalties of 14 others for
their alleged roles in organizing opposition to the military’s removal
of former President Mohamed Morsy in July 2013.
The charges ranged from
publishing false news to conspiring to overthrow the interim government
installed by the military following the removal of Morsy. But a review
of the case file by Human Rights Watch shows that the state presented
little evidence that the defendants did anything but spread news about a
mass sit-in opposing the coup or organize and publicize peaceful
opposition to Morsy’s removal.
Security forces violently dispersed the sit-in at Cairo’s Rab’a
al-Adawiya Square on August 14, 2013, killing more than 800 mostly
peaceful protesters. The killings were
a probable crime against humanity for which no government official or member of the security forces has faced investigation or prosecution.
“The fact that people who covered and publicized the mass killings in
2013 could go to prison for life or be executed while the killers walk
free captures the abject politicization of justice in Egypt,” said
Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director.
The April 11, 2015 verdict came after United States President Barack Obama
announced,
following a call with President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi on March 31, that
he would allow the release to Egypt of F-16 fighter jets, M1A1 Abrams
tanks, and Harpoon missiles that the US had withheld since Morsy’s
removal.
A spokesperson for the National Security Council
said in a statement
that rather than wait until the administration could certify to
Congress that Egypt had taken steps toward a restoration of full
democracy, Secretary of State John Kerry would invoke a waiver citing US
national security interests to request military aid without such a
certification.
Human Rights Watch obtained a copy of 107 pages of the government’s file
in the case of the 51 alleged Brotherhood supporters and verified the
contents with a lawyer on the coordinated defense team. The file
included evidence logs, prosecutors’ notes, and the full charge sheet
and testimony from investigating police officers.
Judge Nagi Shehata,
who presided over the case in his capacity as a special circuit judge
assigned to hear cases of terrorism and national security, did not
immediately release the text of his verdict. Human Rights Watch did not
monitor the trial.
A review of the file showed that prosecutors presented no evidence other
than testimony from a police major in the National Security Sector of
the Interior Ministry to support their accusation that the defendants
planned to use violence to overthrow the government.
The police major alleged that Brotherhood Supreme Guide Mohamed Badie
and other top leaders in the organization planned to cause chaos in
Egypt by spreading false news of police abuse, confronting police in the
streets, staging sit-ins at government buildings, and eventually
arresting the coup leaders and forming their own government.
Other
evidence meant to support the prosecution’s case – including seized
papers and text messages – suggested only that the defendants had helped
publicize and organize protests against Morsy’s removal.
“Peacefully advocating a political point of view or doing your job as a
journalist should never be a crime,” Stork said. “This trial appears to
be simply another effort by the Egyptian government to silence its
opponents.”
The defendants included 10 journalists and seven people who worked as
Brotherhood spokesmen or for Brotherhood-owned news outlets, as well as
Mohamed Soltan, a 27-year-old Egyptian-American who volunteered to
arrange news coverage of the sit-in, and was sentenced to life in
prison. Walid Abd al-Raouf Shalabi, a writer at the Brotherhood’s
official Freedom and Justice Party (FJP) newspaper, was sentenced to
death.
On April 11, the White House issued a
statement saying that the United States condemned the sentence against Soltan and calling for his immediate release.
Badie and other prominent leaders in the Brotherhood also received death
sentences. In Egypt, a life sentence is 25 years, and defense lawyers
have said they will appeal all the sentences.
Soltan has been on hunger strike for more than 400 days and has suffered
potentially permanent damage to his health, his family has said. Unlike
the Australian Al Jazeera English journalist Peter Greste, who was
convicted by Shehata in an earlier case and deported under a decree
issued by al-Sisi permitting the “extradition” of foreign defendants, or
Greste’s colleague Mohamed Fahmy, an Egyptian-Canadian who remains on
trial in Egypt after renouncing his Egyptian citizenship in the hope of
taking advantage of the decree, Soltan has not yet given up his Egyptian
citizenship. On April 11, however, his family called for the US to
demand that al-Sisi release Soltan “the same way he released … Peter
Greste.”
The authorities should quash the convictions of the journalists and
media workers who were convicted solely for their reporting or for
exercising their right to freedom of expression, Human Rights Watch
said. If there is credible evidence that the other defendants planned or
promoted violence, prosecutors should retry them in proceedings that
meet international fair trial standards and present such evidence.
The case is the latest of more than a dozen mass trials since 2013
targeting Brotherhood members and others who have opposed the new
government of al-Sisi, the former defense minister who orchestrated
Morsy’s removal. Shehata, a criminal court judge in Giza governorate,
was
appointed by the country’s highest appeals
court in January 2014 to one of nine special circuits meant to hear
terrorism cases and those affecting “national unity and peace.” He has
since overseen multiple mass trials. On February 4, 2015, he
sentenced 230 protesters and activists to life in prison, while on February 2, he confirmed 183
death sentences for a deadly attack by alleged Brotherhood supporters on a police station.
In June 2014, Egypt’s grand mufti, who is legally required to give his
opinion on death sentences in his role as the country’s highest Islamic
legal official,
rejected 14 death sentences
handed down by Shehata against Badie and other Brotherhood members in a
separate case. One of the assisting judges on the panel overseeing the
case said that the mufti had found that “the investigations and evidence
were not enough to carry out the death sentence,” Reuters reported.
THE PROSECUTION'S CASE
According to the case file obtained by Human Rights Watch, the
prosecution alleged that 14 of the defendants, among them Badie and
other prominent Brotherhood officials, had planned to “overturn the
constitution” and form a new government by force, prevent state
institutions from working, and attack security forces and places of
Christian worship, or had provided the Brotherhood with money and
weapons to do so.
All of the defendants except Badie and Mahmoud Ghozlan, another top
Brotherhood leader, were charged with participating in this “criminal
agreement” and preparing a plan to “spread chaos in the country.”
Prosecutors accused 35 defendants – among them Soltan, journalists, and
media workers – of publishing “rumors” and “false news” that they
allegedly knew would “weaken the prestige of the state,” “spread
terror,” “disturb the general security,” and convince the international
community that the government could not administer the country.
The judge convicted thirteen defendants in absentia. Two defendants –
Ghozlan and Amr Farrag, a journalist – remain at large, while 11 were
officially listed by the prosecution as fugitives but are actually being
held by the authorities and are defendants in other cases, a defense
lawyer told Human Rights Watch.
In his testimony, Maj. Mostafa Khalil, the National Security Sector
officer who provided the bulk of the prosecution’s evidence, alleged
that after security forces dispersed the sit-in in Cairo on August 14,
2013, Badie ordered Ghozlan to set up “operation rooms” under the
supervision of Hossam Abu Bakr, a former Morsy-appointed governor of the
Qalyubiya governorate, who was also sentenced to death on April 11,
2015.
Major Khalil said that Abu Bakr and nine others agreed to “execute a
plan” that would include publishing falsified accounts of protesters’
deaths and injuries in order to claim that security forces had “violated
international human rights standards.” This coverage, he theorized,
would allow the Brotherhood to rally supporters and organize armed
marches that would distract security forces and provide the Brotherhood
with an opportunity to loot weapons from police stations.
Major Khalil alleged that Saad al-Hosseini, a former member of
parliament who was among those sentenced to death, oversaw an agreement
to hire “criminal elements” to join Brotherhood marches and confront
security forces, and that other defendants were responsible for
recording the confrontations and sharing the information with the
international media.
Among the properties used as “operation rooms,” prosecutors alleged, was the headquarters of the independent
news website Rassd. Major Khalil said that when police arrested Soltan on August 26, 2013, he was meeting in an apartment with two
Rassd
journalists – Abdullah al-Fakharany, the executive director, and Samhi
Mustafa, a co-founder – as well as Mohamed al-Adly, a correspondent for
the Amgad satellite television channel, and that the four were planning
future coverage and how to communicate securely. Farrag, the journalist
who remains at large, also worked for
Rassd and was convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment in absentia.
The police who arrested Soltan – then recovering from a bullet wound in
his arm suffered at the sit-in – had been looking for his father, Salah,
a Brotherhood member, Soltan’s family has said. Soltan’s sister told
Human Rights Watch that when Soltan asked for a warrant during the
arrest, an officer laughed and said he was told to “round up” whomever
he found in the house. Soltan’s father was sentenced to death in the
same case.
Ten days before Soltan’s arrest, the prosecution said, police had
arrested four Brotherhood leaders in another apartment, where they found
“stacks of paper” with titles such as “Scenario,” “Characteristics and
Types of Weapons,” and “Description of Movements in Some Places.” The
authorities said they had found $887 in US dollars and 418,000 Egyptian
pounds (US$54,800) in cash, as well as an order from a
hawala – an informal money-transfer system – for another 400,000 Egyptian pounds.
Besides Major Khalil’s testimony, the prosecution’s case file includes
no evidence that any of the defendants planned or advocated violence.
Among the items listed as seized from various alleged “operation rooms”
were cameras, laptops, CDs, hard drives, mobile phones, and papers
related to legislative projects of the Brotherhood and its Freedom and
Justice Party (FJP), such as “Elections Program” and “Egyptian
Constitution Project.”
Other “evidence” included a document called “I
Refuse the Coup Against Legitimacy in Two Languages: Arabic and
English.” The prosecution’s file did not describe the documents in more
detail.
The defense lawyer, who asked not to be named, told Human Rights Watch
that police found no weapons in possession of any of the defendants and
that prosecutors presented no corroborating evidence, such as emails or
text messages, to support Major Khalil’s testimony.
In a section of the case file labeled “prosecution notes,” the authors
cite “many media publications” found by police in a Cairo apartment used
by the Brotherhood that included remarks by Badie explaining “how to
occupy and control government buildings and confront police forces with
the use of violence.”
But much of the prosecution’s evidence describes only alleged plans by
Badie and other high-ranking Brotherhood members to bring down the
interim government through nonviolent civil disobedience. In another
Cairo apartment, prosecutors wrote, police found written papers
addressed to Deputy Supreme Guide Khairat al-Shater and labeled
“Scenario” that contained, among other sections, one titled “Nonviolent
Weapons of War.”
This section suggested plans for a “social and economic
boycott of state institutions,” occupying government offices, and
publishing “a parallel government.” It suggested allying with other
revolutionary groups, such as the April 6 Movement and Ultras soccer
fans.
It also allegedly contained plans for a 3-day “rally” that would
involve occupying public squares, “fatiguing” security forces with
clashes, surrounding embassies and government buildings, and conclude by
“storming” the constitutional court, “besieging” the Ittihadeya
presidential palace, and arresting the interim president and defense
minister.
Other purportedly criminal plans discovered by police included a paper
that suggested organizing a large march of protesters to Cairo Stadium
for a day called “Sports Against the Coup” that would feature the
demonstrators from the Rab’a sit-in playing against those from the other
main sit-in in the capital, at Nahda Square.
Among those sentenced on April 11, 2015, were several people who served
as key liaisons between foreign journalists and the Brotherhood and FJP,
including Khaled Hamza, director of Ikhwanweb, the Brotherhood’s main
English-language website; Ahmed Aref, a main Brotherhood spokesman;
Murad Ali, chief FJP spokesman; and Gehad al-Haddad, the son of Morsy’s
foreign policy advisor. Al-Haddad often gave interviews and background
briefings to English-language media during the Rab’a sit-in.
In the prosecution’s notes, investigators wrote down paraphrased
“confessions” from some of these defendants. Most of these statements
consist only of acknowledgments that the individual was a Brotherhood
member, participated in the Rab’a sit-in, or helped spread news about
protests opposing Morsy’s removal.
The defense lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the confessions were
fabricated and that all the defendants had declined to speak with
prosecutors.
Al-Haddad’s “confession” states that he served as a spokesman for the
Brotherhood, helped arrange official statements, and set up a media
center in a hall inside the Rab’a al-Adawiya mosque, where the
Brotherhood often held news conferences during the sit-in. The
prosecution said that al-Haddad also “confessed” to giving three
interviews to foreign media – to a Spanish newspaper, an American
television channel, and the
New York Times – after the Rab’a dispersal.
Soltan’s “confession” states only that he frequented the Rab’a sit-in
and was responsible for dealing with the foreign journalists who covered
it.
EARLIER MASS TRIALS
The number of defendants charged in mass trials since 2013 has ranged from two dozen
to 494,
and the charges have spanned from murder to participation in
anti-government protests. Hundreds of defendants have been sentenced to
death or life in prison. As of late March 2015, 435 alleged Morsy
supporters had received death sentences and appealed their case to the
Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appeals court, according to
a count by the Moheet news website.
In March, Egypt
carried out the first execution
to stem from Morsy’s overthrow, after an alleged anti-coup protester
was convicted of murder in mass trial involving 58 defendants. Six men
convicted in a separate, military trial of belonging to a terrorist
group and attacking security forces
currently face execution.
The April 11 Sentences of Journalists and Media Workers
The 18 journalists and media workers sentenced on April 11, 2015, are:
Sentenced to death:
- Walid Abd al-Raouf Shalabi – Writer for Freedom and Justice Party newspaper
Sentenced to life in prison:
- Hani Salahuddin – broadcaster and former journalist at Al-Youm Al-Sabaa newspaper
- Gamal Nasar – journalist and broadcaster
- Ibrahim al-Taher – journalist
- Abdou Desouki – journalist
- Mohamed al-Adly – Amgad television channel correspondent
- Mosaad al-Barbari –Ahrar 25 television channel director
- Hussein al-Qabbani – Journalists for Reform group coordinator
- Amr Farrag – Rassd news website director
- Samhi Mustafa – Rassd news website executive director
- Abdullah al-Fakharany – Rassd news website founding member
- Mohamed Soltan – Rab’a sit-in media volunteer
- Ahmed Aref – Muslim Brotherhood spokesman
- Murad Ali – Freedom and Justice Party spokesman
- Gehad al-Haddad – Muslim Brotherhood English-language spokesman
- Khaled Hamza – Muslim Brotherhood English website, Ikhwanweb, director
- Ahmed Subei – Muslim Brotherhood Arabic website, Ikhwan Online, employee
- Magdi Hammouda – Muslim Brotherhood Arabic website, Ikhwan Online, employee
