Amnesty International has called on Egyptian authorities to immediately lift travel bans imposed on prominent human rights lawyers Nasser Amin and Hoda Abdelwahab.
Despite the closure of the long-standing “foreign funding” case, Case 173/2011, which involved multiple NGOs, the travel restrictions on Amin and Abdelwahab, co-founders of the Arab Centre for Independence of Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP), remain in place.
On 20 March 2024, after 13 years of investigations, the authorities announced the end of Case 173/2011, which had implicated at least seven organizations and 11 NGO workers, with travel bans imposed on 31 human rights defenders and NGO staff. While travel bans on 29 individuals have been lifted, Amin and Abdelwahab still face restrictions stemming from the 2016 ban.
“The Egyptian authorities claim to have ended the sham Case 173 against NGOs, yet Nasser Amin and Hoda Abdelwahab continue to be arbitrarily banned from travel in connection to criminal investigations against NGOs. Their bans must be immediately lifted along with all other arbitrary travel bans imposed on NGO workers and former detainees in relation to separate politically motivated cases,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Egypt Researcher at Amnesty International.
The announcement of the closure of Case 173 came shortly after Egypt and the EU declared an elevation of their relationship to a strategic and comprehensive partnership.
ACIJLP was one of the NGOs investigated in the “foreign funding” case. In December 2011, police and public prosecutors searched its offices, seizing computers and documents. Despite investigations and an appeal in 2019, Amin and Abdelwahab’s travel bans have not been lifted.
The authorities have also not reversed asset freezes on renowned human rights defenders Azza Soliman, Mostafa Al-Hassan, and Hossam Bahgat, despite the closure of the case.
Nasser Amin has lodged a complaint requesting the removal of ACIJLP from Case 173 and the lifting of the travel bans, but he has received no response to date.
Amnesty International stresses the need for genuine measures to allow civil society organizations to operate freely without fear of intimidation or prosecution.
