Statement of:
The Egyptian Forum:
Parliamentarians for Freedom and Egypt’s Victims of Torture!
On the UN International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, 26 June, the ‘Egyptian Forum: Parliamentarians for Freedom’ – which is currently represented by 77 members of the Egyptian Parliament Overseas, who used to be mates of the martyr President Mohamed Morsi, and headed by Dr. Mohamed Emad Saber, member of the 25 January Revolution Parliament’s Foreign Relations Committee – condemns what is taking place in the republic of oppression -formerly Egypt- where no voice is louder than the voice of the tyrant and his ruling gang, with nothing heard but the sound of clanking weapons, the footsteps of thick military boots, the sound of creaking iron doors within dark prisons, amid groans and screams of the tortured in the military gangs’ torture archipelago.
Yes, this is the situation in Sisi’s Republic, where over a hundred thousand detainees are still held in prison, with more than a hundred former members of the 25 January Revolution Parliament – the people’s deputies who represent Egypt’s true will.
In this republic of oppression, the tyrant doesn’t bother with attempting to hear the voice of the people, nor does he care about the representatives who express their will, as the people and their deputies have become his own hostages. Rather, all Egypt has become a hostage in the grip of the tyrant and his military gang – where the black-clad Egypt sits under the legs of his throne, stained with the blood of innocents.
The Egyptian Forum stands in solidarity with all the victims who have suffered from the scourge of torture and cruel treatment in Egypt, demanding the release of detainees and adoption of their fair issues, introducing and disseminating them in international, legal, parliamentary and humanitarian forums.
In this regard, the Egyptian Forum: ‘Parliamentarians for Freedom’ stresses the following:
First, it appreciates the heroic role played by the detainees, staying steadfast behind bars, noting that the detainees represent all segments of the Egyptian people, including men, women, youth, and elderly people – some of whom used to hold prestigious positions both inside and outside Egypt, including ministers, governors, members of parliament, professors, businessmen, teachers, doctors, engineers, Al-Azhar scholars, labourers, peasants, intellectuals, and men of thought – all of whom committed nothing but rejection of the military coup, spurning confiscation of the will of the people, and pursuit of establishing a free, democratic political system that would respect freedom of expression and the popular will that is demonstrated by the ballot box, not the tank.
Second, it draws the world’s attention to the harsh detention conditions that Egyptian political detainees and their families are suffering from, including interruption of their families’ financial resources, the difficult health conditions of some of them, deprivation of many detainees of the right to exercise and placing them in solitary confinement, the poor quality of the food provided to them, the filthy prisons, and lack of any kind of care – which means that what is going on is an organized extermination of these political detainees, where there is a story of a painful life behind every single detainee in Egypt’s prisons.
Therefore, we appeal to all the free people in the world to stand in solidarity with the political prisoners in Egypt. Some of the detainees are suffering from cancer and other serious diseases, some of whom are over seventy and eighty years old and suffer from age-related diseases as well as chronic diseases. It is to be noted that many detainees contracted these diseases in prisons due to their poor and deteriorating conditions as well as lack of health care or any treatment programs, which led to the death of many of them due to deprivation of medical treatment and medication – which is tantamount to criminal murder and genocide of a sect of Egyptians that has been trapped in prisons and deprived of normal life and basic human rights, including the right to medical treatment.
Third, it calls on all the free people of the world to disseminate information about detainees, their former jobs and positions before their arrest at the hands of the coup military, stressing that they were never criminals, thieves, bribers, murderers, traitors, or villains. Rather, they were protectors and guards of the homeland, as many of them pursued development and renaissance of the Egyptian society, through participation in foundation of hundreds of charities to provide support and facilitate assistance to the needy, in addition to the fact that many of them had gained the trust of their colleagues in professional unions and worked hard to serve their colleagues, where several leaders of the trade unions, who used to be protectors and defenders of workers’ rights are among detainees.
Fourth, it stresses the country’s need for comprehensive national reconciliation so that the Egyptian society’s wounds may be healed, and allowing everyone to work to get Egypt out of its current predicament, especially amid the fact that there are rare competencies in various specialties among detainees, and that Egypt is in dire need of them, noting that Dr. Bassem Odeh, the former Minister of Supply, whose performance was praised by the entire people of Egypt, is just one example out of thousands of others languishing in prisons and detention centers.
Fifth, it warns that the presence of girls and women in detention centres or prisons is disgraceful to Egypt and a major crime that can never be erased. Therefore, campaigns and demands for their release should continue, and all efforts and energies be made in this regard, where the issue of each one of them should be adopted and defended until achievement of the release of all of them.
Sixth, it affirms that putting the coup criminals on trial for the crimes they have committed against political detainees is a fair demand guaranteed by all humanitarian laws and regulations, noting that their crimes will never be subject to a statute of limitations, along with everyone who has supported them.
Dr. Mohamed Emad Saber
Head of the Egyptian Forum
(Wednesday, 26 June 2024)