urgent appeal -peace activists arrested and tortured.
annette | 17.02.2003 16:30
Please help secure the release of 10 egyptian peace activists who have been arrested and tortured in Cairo,for organising an anti war demonstration. Please ring the Egyptian embassy in London on 0207 499 2401 or 0207 409 2236,and ask why they have been arrested - the embassy staff do not like to be associated with torturers so please bring this up. You can also help by organising a delegation to go and visit the embassy - speed is of the essence.
Thankyou for showing solidarity with this group.
The appeal from Egypt reads in part:
"On the 18th of January State Security Police arrested 11 activists
participating in an anti-war demonstration in Cairo. In the dawn of the
8 thof February they arrested and issued an order of detention for Ibrahim El
Sahari, Journalist at El Alam El Yom, founding member of Center for
Socialist Studies and prominent activist in the Egyptian antiwar movement.
On 9 Feb, at 2 p.m., they arrested another antiwar activist, Sabri El
Sammak, director of production at Aflam Misr El Alameya, the production
company of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine.
"A vicious war is about to hit the region causing a damage whose proportions
no one can fully predict. It is the people of the region who are going to
pay for this war. In those black moments of history the least the peoples of
the world can do, and the Egyptian people are no exception, is to raise
their voices against that war and the interests it serves.
"We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues and to stop the
harassment of the Egyptian solidarity movements, which are exercising their
legitimate right in collective peaceful expression, a fact supported by the
recent court order which rejected the government's decision to ban the
organization of peaceful demonstrations against the war on Iraq."
The names of those still in custody are Sabri Al Sammak, Ibrahim Al Sahari,
Tamer Hindawi, Abdel Gawad Ahmed, Mohammed Khalil, Samir Al Foli, Magdi Al
Kordi, Mahmoud Hassan, Mohammed Dakhli, and Mohammed Hosni. The activists in
Egypt are worried that many more will be arrested in the next few days if
there is not sufficient international pressure for their release.
Thankyou for showing solidarity with this group.
The appeal from Egypt reads in part:
"On the 18th of January State Security Police arrested 11 activists
participating in an anti-war demonstration in Cairo. In the dawn of the
8 thof February they arrested and issued an order of detention for Ibrahim El
Sahari, Journalist at El Alam El Yom, founding member of Center for
Socialist Studies and prominent activist in the Egyptian antiwar movement.
On 9 Feb, at 2 p.m., they arrested another antiwar activist, Sabri El
Sammak, director of production at Aflam Misr El Alameya, the production
company of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine.
"A vicious war is about to hit the region causing a damage whose proportions
no one can fully predict. It is the people of the region who are going to
pay for this war. In those black moments of history the least the peoples of
the world can do, and the Egyptian people are no exception, is to raise
their voices against that war and the interests it serves.
"We demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues and to stop the
harassment of the Egyptian solidarity movements, which are exercising their
legitimate right in collective peaceful expression, a fact supported by the
recent court order which rejected the government's decision to ban the
organization of peaceful demonstrations against the war on Iraq."
The names of those still in custody are Sabri Al Sammak, Ibrahim Al Sahari,
Tamer Hindawi, Abdel Gawad Ahmed, Mohammed Khalil, Samir Al Foli, Magdi Al
Kordi, Mahmoud Hassan, Mohammed Dakhli, and Mohammed Hosni. The activists in
Egypt are worried that many more will be arrested in the next few days if
there is not sufficient international pressure for their release.
annette