29 July 2010

Egypt: Egyptian Blogger Released after 21 months Illegal Detention

Hani Nazeer, 29, arrested on 3 October 2009 for having published a link on his blog 'Karz Al-Hob' to a controversial book, was released on 22 July 2010 after 21 months illegal detention.

On 30 June 2010, Alkarama, Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and nine Egyptian NGOs called for the release of all detainees held for reasons other than "drug related or terrorist offences", including Hani Nazeer and other bloggers still detained for having freely expressed their opinions.

Alkarama submitted Hani Nazeer's case, on 1 June 2010, to the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention asking them to confirm the arbitrary nature of his detention.

Before his release, Egypt's Supreme State Security Emergency Court had issued 12 separate orders for his release; however, Hani Nazeer remained in detention at Burj Al-Arab prison, some 300km north-west of Cairo.

Hani Nazeer handed himself over to the Egyptian authorities on 3 October 2009 after receiving a summons from the Ministry of Interior for questioning regarding sensitive content on his blog. He was immediately arrested and would spend the next 21 months in jail.

Hani Nazeer's case serves to further expose the Egyptian authorities continued violation of their obligations to international human rights law, while also confirming the Ministry of Interior's use of Egypt's Emergency Law to carry out illegal arrests and ignore judicial release orders.

While Alkarama welcomes Hani Nazeer's release, it calls for the release of all other bloggers and detainees held on administrative orders inside Egypt's jails and that they receive adequate reparations upon release.