Amnesty International calls on Egypt to 'immediately release' 14 local rights members

Amnesty International called on the Egyptian authorities on Wednesday to immediately release Ezzat Ghoniem, a lawyer and the founder of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, as well as 13 other group members currently on trial over "charges related their activities or peaceful dissent."

"The 14 individuals have been arbitrarily detained since 2018 and are being tried by an emergency state security court, violating their right to a fair trial," the UK-based watchdog said in a statement.     

According to the international rights group, the defendants have allegedly been subjected to human rights violations, including enforced disappearance, torture or other ill-treatment.

"If convicted, they will face prison terms ranging from five years to life behind bars," the statement read.

The defendants include human rights lawyer Hoda Abdelmoniem, Aisha El-Shater, the daughter of prominent Muslim Brotherhood leader and ex-business tycoon Khairat El-Shater, and her husband, lawyer Mohamed Abo Horeira.

Amnesty International described the trial as being "politically motivated."

"[The trial]…marks the latest attempt by the Egyptian authorities to silence this group of human rights defenders, lawyers and actual or perceived state critics. These 14 individuals have been detained simply for exercising their human rights. They should be immediately released, and all charges against them dropped," said Philip Luther, Amnesty International's Research and Advocacy Director for the Middle East and North Africa.

"The Egyptian authorities have not stopped crushing the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, which announced its closure in the aftermath of the arrests of its founder and associates. They have instead pursued a revenge spree targeting anyone deemed to be affiliated with the group and inflicting cruelty upon cruelty against them in detention, including by denying them family visits for over four years," he added.

The Muslim Brotherhood has been designated an illegal group in Egypt since 2014. In July 2012, the then-defence minister Abdel-Fatah al-Sisi, now the country's president, overthrew the first democratically-elected president Mohamed Morsi, a Brotherhood senior member, following mass protests against his tenure.

The Egyptian authorities have since then launched a crackdown on the group members; most of them received imprisonment sentences, have been on death row or fled the country.

The memories of the Rabaa massacre of 2013, in which at least 1,000 mostly Muslim Brotherhood members or supporters were killed by Egyptian security forces at open sit-ins protesting against the removal of Morsi,, continue to be condemned by local and international rights groups till the present moment.

Morsi died during his trial of a heart condition in 2019.