Demand Egyptian authorities immediately release Ramy Shaath!

On July 2019, in the middle of the night, heavily armed, masked men entered the apartment where I lived with my husband Ramy Shaath, an Egyptian-Palestinian human rights defender. Without a warrant and offering no explanation, they took Ramy away before my eyes and gave me ten minutes to pack my bags in order to be deported from Egypt.

Ramy has been subjected to harassment by the Egyptian authorities for several years due to his activities as a human rights defender. He has been held in pre-trial detention since July 2019, in inhuman conditions, like his fellow detainees (10 to 18 prisoners who must share a 25m² prison cell). Moreover, adequate measures are not being taken to prevent the spread of Covid-19 in the place of detention.

After my unlawful expulsion from Egypt on July 2019, I have only been permitted twice to speak to Ramy by telephone. But thanks to international mobilization, I was granted permission to return to Egypt in February 2021, for a 10-day visit, during which I was able to visit Ramy in prison. I was able to hug Ramy for the first time in 19 months. Then I was forced to say goodbye to him again, not knowing when I would see him again.

On July 2021, Ramy will have been in arbitrary detention for two years. Two years that I have been separated from him. Help me be reunited with my husband. Demand the Egyptian authorities immediately release Ramy unconditionally!

— Celine Lebrun Shaath

⬇ Make Your Voice Heard ⬇

Abdel Fattah Saeed Hussein

Khalil el-Sisi

Dear Mr President,

On July, 2019, at about 12:45 am, around a dozen heavily armed police officers stormed the home of political activist Ramy Shaath in Cairo, without identifying themselves or showing an arrest warrant. The police officers searched the apartment and seized computers, hard drives and mobile phones. They arrested Ramy Shaath and his wife, Céline Lebrun Shaath, a history teacher and community organizer, who was unlawfully deported to France later that day, even though she had been legally residing in Egypt since March 2012.

The security forces took Ramy Shaath to an undisclosed location and concealed his whereabouts for around 36 hours. The officers at Qasr el-Nil police station, in the center of Cairo, told his family and lawyers that he was not in their custody. Later, a lawyer informed the family that Ramy Shaath had appeared before a prosecutor at the Supreme State Security Prosecution in New Cairo. He was not allowed to call his family or legal counsel, and during the interrogation session he was represented by a duty lawyer.

Ramy’s pre-trial detention has been renewed numerous times since his arrest. On  April, 2020, a chamber of Cairo’s Criminal Court that deals with terrorism cases decided to, in absentia, arbitrarily add Ramy Shaath’s name on Egypt’s “terrorist list” for a period of five years.

Ramy Shaath, an Egyptian-Palestinian activist, is one of the human rights defenders being unjustly detained in Egypt simply for having exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association.

As the President of the Arab Republic of Egypt, I urge you to use your authority to ensure Ramy Shaath’s immediate and unconditional release. He is a prisoner of conscience who is being detained solely for having peacefully exercised his right to freedom of expression and his right to participate in public affairs.

My sincere regards,

{user_data~First Name} {user_data~Last Name}

First Name

Last Name

Email Address

Address 1

City

State

Postcode

Country

Phone Number

Amnesty Action Alerts & Updates — I would like to receive emails about urgent human rights campaigns and victories.