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We Must not keep silent about the systemic oppression against the Muslim Brotherhood
Egyptian Human Rights organizations call for cessation of the police campaign against MB members
Cairo, November 20, 2007
Egyptian human rights & law organizations said today that keeping silent about the continuous police campaign against hundreds of Egyptian citizens because of their being members of the Muslim Brotherhood, is becoming a collusion & participation in this systemic oppression, and therefore they must not keep silent.
Yesterday, security authorities have detained about 25 citizens from Sharkeya & Dekahleya cities in the delta region. They followed the usual routine of arresting MB members in the dark of the night, raiding into their houses & terrifying their family members who woke up on the noise of doors being broken & armed men threatening them.
The organizations signing this proclamation are denouncing the fact that news about random police campaigns & detentions of MB members from most of the governorates of Egypt are considered unworthy of publishing or even mentioning in most of Egyptian newspapers, with the exception of sparse brief news in some independent newspapers & some websites, as if it is becoming a trivial thing to arrest Egyptian citizens & oppressing them on the background of their political opinions as Islamist opposition.
The organizations signing on this proclamation consider the increased intensity of oppression against MB members so as to suspending university students or investigating them because of their belonging to Muslim Brotherhood. This is a frank violation of freedom of expression & freedom of thinking which would result in real disasters in the future. Security forces by these practices are breaking all laws & the articles of constitution & international conventions for Human Rights, which protect freedom of thinking & expression as long as it is not coupled with violence or provocation for violence.
"When it becomes so ordinary to read every day about campaigns to arrest dozens of MB members alongside with sports & TV news & statements of Government officials about freedoms & considering them as trivial news, then keeping silent is a frank collusion.", The Human Rights organizations said. And they added: "Every prisoner who has been denied their right of knowing causes of their being arrested & their right of a humanitarian treatment and a fair investigation, equitable trial, no matter what are they accused of, must be defended & supported & this is the case of hundreds of prisoners from the brotherhood."
The signing organizations are appealing to all those who belong to the living forces in Egypt, whether the independent media, civil society & independent judges, not to participate in the crime of keeping silent about the oppression of Egyptian citizens by neglecting or covering up such campaigns or by denying them their legal right of fair investigation & trial.
Signing Organizations:
Arabic Network for Human Rights Information
Hisham Mubarak Law Center
Nadeem Center for Psychological Therapy and Rehabilitation of the Victims of Violence
Egyptian Association Against Torture
Democratic Social Egyptian Center
Association for Freedom of Thought & Expression
Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
Arab Program for Human Rights Activists
The Land Center for Human Rights
Ibn Khaldoun Center for Development Studies
Habi Center for Environmental Rights
New Women foundation
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