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Student in Nigeria Murdered Over Blasphemy Allegation

Ensure Justice, Abolish Blasphemy Laws

A female student, Deborah Samuel, was gruesomely murdered in Nigeria’s northwestern Sokoto state last week after she was accused of blasphemy. Efforts by the authorities to identify and arrest those involved in her murder have been met with protests,…
A burned-out building
News

Egypt: Release Autopsy Report, Investigate Suspicious Death

Economist Died in Custody After Enforced Disappearance

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities should urgently release the autopsy report and investigate the suspicious death of economist Ayman Hadhoud, Human Rights Watch said today. Hadhoud was forcibly disappeared on February 5 or 6, 2022, and died in the…
Ayman Hadhoud
News

Egypt: No End to Systematic Repression

Human Rights Defenders and Ordinary Citizens Targeted, Harassed, Tortured

(Beirut) – Egypt’s superficial attempts to create an impression of human rights progress failed to disguise the government’s brutal repression of all manner of dissent in 2021, Human Rights Watch said today in its World Report 2022. Despite ending…
An Egyptian intelligence security detail member stands guard near a banner showing President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.
News

Nigeria: Officials Indicted in Abuses of Protesters

Report Corroborates Human Rights Watch Findings

(Abuja) – A judicial panel has found that army and police officers shot, injured, and killed unarmed protesters at the Lekki Toll Gate in Lagos, Nigeria during nationwide protests against police brutality in 2020, Human Rights Watch said today. This…
Demonstrators protesting against police brutality in Lagos, Nigeria, on October 15, 2020.
News

Egypt: Prisoner’s Family Detained for Torture Complaints

Release Mother Still in Custody

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities should immediately and unconditionally release Hoda Abdel Hamid, apparently detained solely for filing a complaint about the alleged torture and sexual assault of her detained son, Human Rights Watch said today.…
From left to right: Abdelrahman al-Showeikh, Gamal al-Showeikh, Salsbeel al-Showeikh, and Hoda Abdel Hamid
News

The European Bank Should Speak Out About Egypt’s Abuses

Bénédicte Jeannerod is France director at Human Rights Watch. Lorena Cotza is communications lead at Coalition for Human Rights in Development. As it prepares to celebrate its 30th anniversary on April 15, the European Bank for Reconstruction and…
Odile Renaud-Basso, former head of the French treasury who was elected president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) in November 2020.
News

Egypt: Scholar Unjustly Detained

Vienna Academic Faces Abusive ‘Terrorism’ Charges

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities should immediately release an anthropology master’s degree student at Central European University (CEU), or present evidence of actual criminal wrongdoing, Human Rights Watch said today. Police arrested the student,…
Ahmed Samir Santawy, an anthropology master’s student at Central European University (CEU) detained in February 2021.
News

Condemnation of Egypt’s Abuses at UN Rights Body

Overdue Action is a Step Forward

(Geneva, March 12, 2021) – Nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) from around the world expressed their strong support today for a joint declaration by UN member states condemning the human rights situation in Egypt, which was delivered at the 46th…
Egyptian security forces cordon off roads during curfew hours in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, March 29, 2020
News

Human Rights Council: Countries Should Take Bold Action on Egypt

Monitoring, Tough Message on Dire Rights Situation Long Overdue

(Geneva) – Egypt’s human rights community is facing “annihilation” by President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government, more than 100 leading human rights organizations from around the world have warned today in a letter to foreign ministers. The groups…
Egyptian security forces have been involved in systematic abuses such as enforced disappearance and torture and have used abusive counterterrorism laws and measures to crush peaceful dissent. Egyptian security forces stand guard outside one of the entranc
News

Open letter to the European Union and its Member States on Egypt

Dear High Representative, Dear Foreign Ministers, We are writing ahead of the January 25th Foreign Affairs Council discussion on Egypt to raise our serious concerns, once again, about the human rights crisis unfolding in the country, and to urge the…
News

Egypt: No End to Escalating Repression

Authorities Punish Critics, Close Civic Space with Impunity

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities intensified their repression of peaceful government critics and ordinary people during 2020, virtually obliterating any space for peaceful assembly, association or expression, Human Rights Watch said today in its World…
Egyptian security forces cordon off roads during curfew hours in Cairo, Egypt, Sunday, March 29, 2020
News

Egypt: Police Beat Man to Death, Family Says

Relatives, Witnesses, Journalists Detained

Update: On the morning of October 6, Prosecutor General Hamada al-Sawi said in an official statement that he ordered journalist Basma Mostafa released pending investigation. Lawyers said she was ordered to pay bail of 2,000 EGP (US$128). Her release has…
Islam al-Australi, 26, who died in police custody.
News

Egypt: Spate of ‘Morality’ Prosecutions of Women

Arrests, Jail for Violating ‘Family Values'

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities have since late April 2020 carried out an abusive campaign targeting female social media influencers on charges that violate their rights to privacy, freedom of expression, and nondiscrimination, Human Rights Watch said…
Egyptian influencers Hanin Hossam and Mawadda al-Adham, who were sentenced to two years in prison on charges of violating public morals, on the video-sharing app TikTok in Egypt's capital Cairo.
Video

Egypt: Security Forces Disappear, Torture Children

Egyptian police, National Security Agency, and military officials arbitrarily arrested, forcibly disappeared, and tortured children as young as 12 while prosecutors and judges turned a blind eye, Human Rights Watch and the rights group Belady: An Island…
News

Egypt: Four Arrested Over COVID-19 Protest

Prominent Women Sought Release of Unjustly Detained Prisoners

(Beirut) – Egyptian authorities arrested 4 prominent women on March 18, 2020 as they protested to seek the release of unjustly detained prisoners over fears of COVID-19 virus, Human Rights Watch said today. The women were apparently…
Screenshot of a live stream video from the protest showing Ahdaf Soueif, right, Laila Soueif, left, and Rabab al-Mahdy in between before they were arrested at the protest in downtown Cairo on March 18.
News

Coronavirus: Egypt's Prisons Could Spare Disaster with Conditional Releases

In crowded, unhygienic prisons, the spread of the disease presents a serious threat. Will President Sisi put reason before punishment?

  In a country like Egypt where basic rights are severely stifled, there are many rights-related ramifications during a public health crisis. One of the most urgent is the impact on vulnerable groups, such as those in closed, densely crowded…
An Egyptian police officer at the entrance of the Tora prison in the Egyptian capital Cairo.

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