Egypt: PEN International calls for the immediate release of Egyptian publisher Hisham Kassem, highlighting an escalating human rights crisis
Hisham Kassem. Hossam el Hamalawy
Update 20th February 2024: PEN International welcomes news that Egyptian publisher and opposition figure Hisham Kassem was released from prison on 20th February 2024 after completing a 6-month sentence.
PEN International condemns the ongoing arbitrary imprisonment of Egyptian publisher and opposition figure Hisham Kassem and expresses concerns over his health, as he has been on hunger strike since 22 August. His extended detention underscores the escalating human rights crisis in the country and serves as an indication of the alarming crackdown on freedom of expression in the lead up to the 2024 presidential election.
PEN International calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Hisham Kassem and drop all charges against him, and end their retaliatory use of criminal defamation charges and arbitrary detention to silence critics.
Hisham Kassem has been detained since 20 August 2023 on trumped-up criminal defamation charges. He was not allowed to communicate with his family or lawyers before his first trial hearing on 2 September. On 4 September, Kassem revealed to his family and lawyer during their visit that he had been on hunger strike since his transfer to the Tenth of Ramadan prison on 22 August in protest of his retaliatory imprisonment. The Court has extended his detention, with next hearing session scheduled for 9 September 2023.
Since President al-Sisi seized power in 2014, the human rights situation in the country has been deteriorating. However, since his decision to run for a second term in 2018, Egypt has plunged into an unprecedented human rights crisis. Egyptian authorities have cracked down on any public or perceived dissent, severely suppressing the rights to peaceful assembly, freedom of expression, and association. Scores of journalists, human rights defenders, activists and bloggers have been arbitrarily arrested, detained for prolonged periods without trials, and faced trumped-up charges solely due to their work or critical views.
Despite President El-Sisi’s call for a national dialogue in April 2022, which initially raised hopes for political openness in Egypt, security agencies have shown no signs of easing their assault on freedom of expression. Many prisoners of conscience, including writers and poets, remain in arbitrary detention because of their writings.
Background:
On 19 August, the South Cairo prosecutor summoned Hisham Kassem to provide his testimony in a case under investigation,without providing further details. The following day, Kassem visited the prosecutor’s office only to be confronted with charges of “harassment” and “misuse of social media”, in relation to his critical views of a former minister and a member of the Presidential Pardon Committee, Kamal Abu Eita. The prosecutor set a bail of EGP 5,000, which Kassem refused to pay, alleging that the charges were politically motivated. On 21 August, the prosecutor brought additional charges against Kassem, accusing him of “assaulting police officers with obscene words” while in custody. The prosecutor ordered his detention pending trial, and he was subsequently transferred to the Tenth of Ramadan’s prison. His first hearing was scheduled for 2 September 2023.
Kassem is a former award-winning publisher of Al-Masry Al-Youm (The Egyptian Today), Egypt’s first independent daily newspaper, and the founder of the now-defunct Cairo Times magazine. He also serves as the chairperson of the board of trustees of al-Tayar al-Hurr (The Liberal Free Current), a liberal group recently established in opposition to the government. Additionally, he is the former head of the Egyptian Organisation for Human Rights, one of Egypt’s most prominent human rights organisations during the presidency of Hosni Mubarak. In recent months, Kassem has been particularly critical of President Al-Sisi and his handling of the country’s economic crisis, emphasizing that meaningful change cannot occur as long as he remains in power.
For more information, please contact Mina Thabet, Head of the MENA Region, at PEN International, email: Mina.Thabet@pen-international.org