Read on Twitter
Hi, I make podcasts now, but for years I was a journalist in Egypt. While there, I met one of the smartest and funniest people I have ever known, Karim Ennarah.
Today, Karim got arrested. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/18/egypt-rights-group-says-second-staff-member-arrested
Today, Karim got arrested. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2020/11/18/egypt-rights-group-says-second-staff-member-arrested
Karim, an amazing researcher and longtime advocate for criminal justice reform, was sitting at a restaurant on the beach in Dahab while on vacation “when two plainclothes security agents approached the staff and asked for Ennarah." https://www.madamasr.com/en/2020/11/18/feature/politics/crackdown-on-eipr-escalates-with-arrest-of-criminal-justice-director/
In the days before his arrest a pro-government newspaper published an article claiming that the human rights organization EIPR (where Karim works) was attempting to incite chaos and destroy religion http://www.alarabyanews.com/577971?fbclid=IwAR3XbX592j7VT4k6-QJyqK6u5HbES1DUXbt9_r84aAuLvGMBJabJOibm5Vw
This is the second arrest of EIPR staff this week, the third this year.
Mohamed Basheer was arrested Sunday, on terrorism charges, after meeting w/ European diplomats and ambassadors to discuss the human rights situation in Egypt https://madamasr.com/en/2020/11/16/feature/politics/staffers-arrest-was-direct-response-to-meeting-with-diplomats/?fbclid=IwAR39FFrJ-s41IHPkAKAj--G78PTj1rxy4QCJuTTUTc299G12nMhs2YPf7Jw
Mohamed Basheer was arrested Sunday, on terrorism charges, after meeting w/ European diplomats and ambassadors to discuss the human rights situation in Egypt https://madamasr.com/en/2020/11/16/feature/politics/staffers-arrest-was-direct-response-to-meeting-with-diplomats/?fbclid=IwAR39FFrJ-s41IHPkAKAj--G78PTj1rxy4QCJuTTUTc299G12nMhs2YPf7Jw
Patrick George Zaki, @EIPR researcher on gender issues, has been detained since February. All of this is part of a much larger crackdown on civil society in Egypt. https://www.hrw.org/news/2020/11/16/egypt-leading-rights-group-official-arrested#
With everything being a shitshow in the US, authoritarians abroad are cracking down on human rights without much notice. I don’t know, I just feel sick and scared for my friend.
