The Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI) condemned the Egyptian Interior Ministry for refusing to act on a release warrant issued on 14 December 2009 by the State Security Supreme Criminal Court. This is the fourth time that a court has called for the release of Christian blogger Hani Nazeer Aziz, owner of the blog “Karz AlHob“, which was erased after his arrest in October 2008.
Hani Nazeer was arrested under the emergency law and has been held since
October 2008 without any charges being filed against him. The State
Security Court issued a fourth order for his release after lawyers from
ANHRI’s freedom of expression legal aid unit submitted a memorandum to the
court detailing how security forces had kidnapped the blogger’s brothers
and held them as hostages to force Hani Nazeer to turn himself in, even
though he had not committed an offense. Moreover, ANHRI’s lawyers noted
that a church cleric cooperated with the security forces and helped them
get a hold of Hani Nazeer in October 2008, when he was arrested and
detained at Borg AlArab prison.
Hani Nazeer has been subjected to a series of violations:
his brothers were abducted
there were threats that his sisters would be arrested
a church cleric cooperated with the security forces against him
he was detained as a criminal rather than a political prisoner
he was pressured to convert to Islam to obtain his release
he was forced to reveal the password of his blog, which was then erased
by the state security
ANHRI lawyers were prevented from visiting him
and finally, the security forces have refused to implement four legal
orders calling for his release.
ANHRI said, “the Egyptian interior minister, being responsible for the
state security department, ought to feel proud that his men are so shielded
off from accountability and punishment, and that judiciary independence has
become a meaningless slogan that some officials use to deceive public
opinion in Egypt.”
ANHRI said that the cases of Hani Nazeer and other prisoners of conscience,
as well as victims of impunity in Egypt, will be the living proof of the
lies of the Egyptian government in Geneva during the presentation of
Egypt’s report on human rights conditions in Egypt during the last four
years.
