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For Immediate Release June 19, 2007 Contact: 202-638-0066 Leadership Council for Human rights Outgoing communications from Cairo’s Ibn Khaldun Center for Development Studies (ICDS) have been blocked for more than one week, its staff members have reported to the Leadership Council for Human Rights. Interference by the Egyptian authorities is suspected based on previous experience with such problems. Emails and faxes to ICDS staff working outside of Egypt and to members of the international human rights community, including correspondence to the Leadership Council, have been tampered with and filtered. ICDS Senior Representative Naiem Sherbiny informed the Leadership Council of this development on Sunday after the breach was discovered; initially staff members were unaware that their communications systems had been hacked. The Center is one of Egyptطs prominent civil society organizations and it has been a leading voice for democracy in the Arab world. It gained international notoriety in 2000, when ICDS Founder Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim and 27 Center employees were imprisoned on dubious charges that many linked to the Center’s involvement in voter awareness initiatives and election monitor trainings that year. The co-defendants were acquitted in 2003 after a large-scale international outcry. The effective embargo on outgoing messages coincides with Egyptian civil society groups’ advocacy for an Appropriations Bill that would withhold $200 million in military aid to Egypt unless Cairo makes progress on judicial reforms and police training initiatives and takes steps to eradicate weapons smuggling to Gaza. According to ICDS’s U.S. representative, authorities have portrayed Dr. Ibrahim as the main actor behind the move to cut or condition aid; and a public prosecutor is reportedly attempting to build a case against Dr. Ibrahim for treason on the grounds of dealing with foreign powers to harm the interests of Egypt. Some Egyptian media outlets, meanwhile, have launched a campaign against the Ibn Khaldun Center, labeling ICDS the Son of Zion Center in an attempt to play on anti-Israeli sentiments. Increased pressure has been placed on the Center since late May, after ICDS participated in the Second Forum on Democracy and Reform in the Arab World in Doha, Qatar. The Leadership Council condemns this latest attempt to crack down on civil society and democracy activists who are working to advance fundamental freedoms. This incident underscores the continued need for improvement of human rights in Egypt. |