Essa, Editor-in-Chief of Al Dustour Newspaper, is accused of “Propagating false news and rumors causing general security disturbance and harming public interest" and "Intentionally publishing false news that may hurt public safety". His trial was supposed to open next Monday 1st October before the Misdemeanor Court in Cairo.
The sudden decision to transfer the case before a tribunal of exception, where the basic standards for a fair trail are not met and the rights of defense cannot be ensured, happens after Egypt was severely criticized by the United States for its appalling human rights record.
FIDH recalls that the sentence that will be pronounced by the Emergency Court on Monday cannot be appealed and will be ratified by the President of the Republic for immediate execution.
FIDH condemns the recourse to exceptional courts for the trying of civilians and recalls that according to the UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of Expression, “Criminal defamation is not a justifiable restriction on freedom of expression; all criminal defamation laws should be abolished and replaced, as necessary, with appropriate civil defamation laws” .
The decision to transfer the case to a tribunal of exception is significant of the will of the Egyptian authorities to muzzle the dissenting voices. The United Nations Human Rights Committee has clearly specified in the past that “when a State party [to the 1966 International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights] imposes certain restrictions on the exercise of freedom of expression, these may not put in jeopardy the right itself”.
FIDH is sending an urgent mission of judicial observation to Cairo in order to report on the trial and to support the lawyers, journalists and NGOs who are standing behind Ibrahim Essa, raising awareness on the increasing repression against the Egyptian civil society.