We, the undersigned members of the global legal community, stand in solidarity with Egyptian lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer as he awaits his verdict on baseless criminal charges on December 20, 2021, following years of reprisal by the Egyptian state. We call on the Egyptian authorities to drop all charges against el-Baqer, to promptly release him unconditionally, and to lift the restrictive measures imposed on him for his work as an attorney. We further call on the Egyptian authorities to halt the targeting of Egyptian lawyers for their legal defense work and exercise of fundamental freedoms.
Mohamed el-Baqer is a human rights lawyer and the founder and director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms. He has a long history defending individuals whose rights have been violated, including religious and ethnic minorities, and of providing pro bono legal assistance to those prosecuted for exercising their rights to assembly and expression. In November 2020, el-Baqer was awarded the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) Human Rights Award for his “courage, determination, and commitment to defending human rights in Egypt.” In 2021, he was one of three finalists for the UIA/Lexis Nexus Rule of Law Award after being nominated by the Law Society of England and Wales. Members of the U.S. Congress, the European Parliament, and the UN Special Procedures are only some of the individuals and entities from around the world who have stood in solidarity with el-Baqer.
El-Baqer was first arrested on September 29, 2019 while representing his client, renowned blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He was questioned in the same case, faced with a series of arbitrary charges, and remanded into pretrial detention. Since then, el-Baqer has been charged in additional criminal cases through “rotation” (tadwir), the practice of ordering individuals into new criminal cases, where the charges and fact patterns are similar if not the same as earlier cases and which facilitates the bypassing of release orders and the circumventing of pretrial detention maximums. El-Baqer was also designated under the country’s terrorist list pending a case for which he has never been questioned; as a result, he faces a travel ban, asset freeze, and potential disbarment. Most recently, he was referred to Emergency State Security Court on the baseless charge of “publishing false news that harms the country’s interests on his social media page.” His trial has continued despite President Sisi’s declaration ending the formal state of emergency in October 2021. A verdict, against which there can be no judicial appeal, is set to be handed down on December 20, 2021.
Since his arrest, el-Baqer has faced extensive due process and other human rights violations. His pretrial detention has been regularly renewed in near-automatic fashion and without proper review; at times, he has not been physically brought before the authority reviewing his detention. His legal team has been unable to visit him in prison since COVID-19 restrictions were announced in March 2020. As his trial ensued, the court has refused to allow his team permission to photocopy the 1,500-page case file and his legal team has been denied the right to present a proper defense. In custody, el-Baqer has been subject to ill-treatment and inhumane detention conditions in the maximum security prison in which he is held. These conditions, coupled with the denial of his outdoor recreation time, and access to books, a clock, and a mirror have resulted in a severe deterioration to his physical and mental health.
The authorities’ targeting of el-Baqer is emblematic of Egypt’s treatment of human rights lawyers, who are increasingly subject to harassment, threats, prosecution, arrest, and punitive administrative measures for their legal defense work. As members of the global legal community, we cannot stand by as we watch fellow members of our profession be subjected to such abuses. Egypt’s targeting of its legal community is an alarming escalation against the country’s “last line of defense” and threatens to do lasting harm to the legal profession and the rule of law.
Signatories (Listed in alphabetical order)
Organizations
Access Now
Avocat.e.s Européen.nes Démocrates / European Democratic Lawyers (AED / EDL)
Avocats sans Frontières
Bar Human Rights
Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)
Democratic Transition & Human Rights Support Center (DAAM)
Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
Egyptian Front for Human Rights (EFHR)
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
El Nadim Center against Violence and Torture
European Criminal Bar Association
German Bar Association
Guernica 37 Chambers
HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
Institute of the Rule of Law, International Association of Lawyers (UIA-IROL)
International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
International Observatory for Lawyers in Danger (OIAD)
International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
Law Society of Ireland
Lawyers for Lawyers
Lawyers’ Rights Watch Canada
Lebanese Center for Human Rights (CLDH)
MENA Rights Group
Mwatana for Human Rights
Ordem Dos Advogados – Portugal
Paris Bar / Ordre des avocats de Paris
Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
SMEX
Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research
The Freedom Initiative
The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)
Lawyers and Law Students*
*Please note that individual lawyers and law students are signing onto this statement in their personal capacities. Affiliations are only listed as an identifying descriptor.
Adriana Haji Zainie, York Law School
Amel Delimi
Amelia Dagen, Georgetown University Law Center
Anaheed Mobaraki, Columbia Law School
Anastasia Buizza
Annabel Tompson, University of York
Annabelle Kennaugh, University of York
António Horta Pinto, Ordem dos Advogados Portugueses
Anwar al-Bunni, Syrian Center for Legal Studies and Research
Ali Al Jabal, Al Jabal Consultancy W.L.L., Bahrain
Alicia Karpasea-Jones, York Law School
Apar Gupta, Advocate
Avi Singh, Director, Protection of Lawyers, Unione Internationale Avocats
Bupe Musonda
Cameron J. Parry, York Law School
Cameron Foster, University of York
Camila Freitas Monnerat
Carlos Marcelino
Caroline Hunter, York Law School, University of York
Chloe Southall, University of York
Christoph von Wilcken, Vice-President, Chair of the Human Rights Committee, European Association of Lawyers (AEA-EAL)
Clare Leonoff-Harris, University of York
Connor van Dartel, University of York
Darren Fenwick
Deena R. Hurwitz, Esq., Virginia U.S.A.
Dillon Thompson, University of York
Divya Korada, Columbia Law Student
Ed Clothier
Elisa Massimino, Georgetown University Law Center
Elisabete Marisa Pinto Da Costa, Portuguese Lawyer
Elsa Pedroso, Lawyer
Elżbieta Baranowska, Attorney at Law
Fleur Pollono, Avocate Nantes
François Moyse, Moyse & Associates
Frederico de Sousa Lemos, Advogado, Portugal
Fritz Streiff, Human Rights Lawyer and Podcaster
Gelson Lima Dos Santos Baía, Ordem dos Advogados Portugueses
Gissou Nia, Human Rights Lawyer
Halem Henish, Human Rights Lawyer
Hayley Bingham
Henrique Delgado Antunes, Universidade Católica Portuguesa – Faculdade de Direito
Humzah Qureshi
Ilona Georgieva, York Law School
Dr. Ioana Cismas, Centre for Applied Human Rights & York Law School, UK
Inês Regalado Ribeiro, Lawyer
Inês Teixeira, Ordem dos Advogados
Issraa Faiz, Georgetown University Law Center
Iwona Dolna, Legal Advisor
James Killen, University of York, UK
Jane Lee, University of York
Janistar Catherine Gilman, University of York
Jakub Puszkarski, The Gdańsk Bar Association (Poland)
Jasmine Elmasry
Jenny Gibbons, University of York
Jessica Aguiar, Criminal Lawyer
Jessica Costello, York University Law School
Jessica Doumit, Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
Jessica Gracie, University of York
John Chappell, Georgetown University Law Center
John Gray
Dr. Jonathan Fisk, York Law School, UK
Joanna Łojkowska, Attorney at Law
João Paulo Soares dos Santos, SS Advocacia & Consultoria Jurídica
Joseph O’Sullivan, Barrister-at- Law, Human Rights Committee of the Bar of Ireland
Juliette Gunn-Roberts, University of York
Kate Salvage, University of York
Kayleigh Bonner
Kiera McCourt
Kiran Thind, York Law School
Layla Khayyat, University of York
Lana Marie Wilks, York Law School
Leilani Farha, Global Director, The Shift and former UN Special Rapporteur on the Right to Housing
Lloyd Birch, University of York Law School
Lurdes Simões de Carvalho, Advogada
M L Calhaz
Magdalena Witkowska, Law Firm Kancelaria Radców Prawnych Gratus s.c.
Maggie Hadley, Columbia Law School
Mai El-Sadany, The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)
Maître Magali Guadalupe Miranda, Avocate au Barreau des Hauts-de-Seine
Malick Falola, Cabinet Falola
Mara Ferreira, Lawyer
Maria Inês Almeida de Sousa Simões, NCF Advogados
María Galán López, Asociación Libre de Abogadas y Abogados
Marika Sosnowski, German Institute for Global and Area Studies (GIGA)
Marie Flynn BL
Matt Matravers, Professor of Law, University of York
Michelle Liu, Georgetown Law
Miguel Mota Cardoso
Millie Edey, University of York
Mostafa Fouad, HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
Nada Ahmed, Ulster University
Nadia Bouajila, American University, Washington College of Law
Naira Martirosian, University of York
Nandini Chandegra, University of York Law School
Natalia Krapiva, Access Now
Natasha Arnpriester
Negad A. Zaky, San Francisco District Attorney
Nelson Yao Yang Neo, University of York
Nye Ullman, University of York
Olivia Harrison, University of York
Orla Wood, University of York
Patrick Henry, Barreau de Liège-Huy
Paulo Guimarães Vaz, Advogado
Philippa Hodgkins, University of York Law School
Philippa Thompson
Portilho Soares, Ordem dos Advogados
Raquel Sofia Alves Peixoto, University of Lisbon
Rechsanwältin Anna Gilsbach, Human Rights Committee of the German Bar Association
Renzo Pomi
Ria Chahal, University of York
Rita Calhaz
Salma Jouaneh, University of York
Sandra da Conceição Caramelo Simão Brilha, Advogada
Sarah Archer, York Law School
Sarah Burnard, University of York
Sarah Ludwick, Georgetown University Law Center
Sarah Morsheimer, Georgetown University Law Center
Shabnam Mojtahedi, Lawyer
Sharia Mayfield, Mayfield Law Office, LLC
Sherif Azer, The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
Sousa Moreira, RSN Advogados
Susan Deller Ross, Georgetown University Law Center
Dr. Sue Westwood, York Law School, University of York
Stephen Rapp, Former US Ambassador-at-Large for Global Criminal Justice
Tânia Dias, Lawyer
Toby Cadman, Guernica 37 Chambers
Tomasz Wolny Dunst, Wolny Dunst Law Firm
Vo Le Nam, University of York
Wade H. McMullen, Jr., Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights
William Oh, Columbia Law ‘24
William Ogden, University of York
Yasmin Omar, International Lawyer
Professor Yasushi Higashizawa, Japan Federation of Bar Associations
Zeinab Khalil, Columbia Law School
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