Badr Mohamed, aged 28, has spent over four years arbitrarily detained in connection to the Ramsis Square protests which took place on August 16, 2013, when he was 17 years old. In January 2023, he was sentenced to an unjust five-year prison sentence following a grossly unfair trial. He is held in Badr 1 prison in cruel and inhuman conditions of detention amid extreme heat, as well as lack of sufficient food. The Egyptian authorities must quash Badr Mohamed’s sentence, immediately release him, and allow him to travel to Austria to be reunited with his wife and his three-year-old daughter, who was born while he was behind bars.
PLEASE TAKE ACTION AS SOON AS POSSIBLE UNTIL: January 19, 2025
take action:
- Write a letter in your own words or using the sample below as a guide to one or both government officials listed. You can also email, fax, call or Tweet them.
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contact information:
President Abdelfattah al-Sisi
Office of the President, Al Ittihadia Palace
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt Fax: +202 2391 1441
Email: [email protected]
Twitter/X: @AlsisiOfficial
Egyptian Embassy in the United States
Ambassador Motaz Mounir Zahran
3521 International Court, NW,
Washington DC 20008
Email: [email protected]
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
sample letter:
Your Excellency or Dear Ambassador,
I am writing to express my concern over the arbitrary detention of Badr Mohamed, who was convicted and sentenced to five years in prison on January 12, 2023 in connection to the 2013 protests in Ramsis Square, following a grossly unfair trial in front of a terrorism circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court. He was denied the rights to adequate defense, to equality of arms, and to cross-examine witnesses against him, and to call witnesses on his behalf. During the trial hearings, Badr Mohamed was kept inside a glass cage where he could not fully observe, hear, or speak during proceedings. He could not communicate with his lawyer privately through the pretrial and trial phases.
Badr Mohamed is detained in Badr 1 prison, known for its cruel and inhuman detention conditions. He is only allowed short family visits once a month. He is held in a small, crammed cell with four other people. There is no fresh air in the cell and temperatures reach over 40˚C in the summer. Badr Mohamed is allowed out of his cell between three and four times a week for less than an hour.
Detainees are forced to buy food from the prison canteen at their own expense. Prisoners are also subjected to camera surveillance and fluorescent lights round the clock, which causes severe pain and suffering and violates the absolute prohibition of torture and other ill-treatment.
I urge you to quash Badr Mohamed’s unjust conviction and sentence, immediately release him from arbitrary detention, and allow him to travel abroad to be reunited with his family in Austria. Pending his release, he must be granted access to his family, lawyers, and adequate healthcare and held in conditions that meet international standards for the treatment of prisoners.
Yours sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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