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Free Ola and Hosam
Free Ola and Hosam
  • The Case
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    • INTERPOL Cancels Red Notices against Dr. Youssef Al Qaradawi and Deletes all Files and Data
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    Ola al-Qaradawi Released, Hosam Remains Detained

    Ola al-Qaradawi Released, Hosam Remains Detained

    Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Renewed For 15 Days

    Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Renewed For 15 Days

    Campaign Update: Ola taken to court a day early for the pre-trial detention hearing of her new case Prosecutor extended her detention for 15 days

    Campaign Update: Ola taken to court a day early for the pre-trial detention hearing of her new case Prosecutor extended her detention for 15 days

    Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Charged In a New Case, Sent Back into Solitary Confinement and Has Started an Open Hunger Strike

    Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Charged In a New Case, Sent Back into Solitary Confinement and Has Started an Open Hunger Strike

    Campaign Update: Ola Given a Conditional Release and Hosam’s Hearing Delayed

    Campaign Update: Ola Given a Conditional Release and Hosam’s Hearing Delayed

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    Egypt: Escalating Reprisals, Arrests of Critics’ Families

    Egypt: Escalating Reprisals, Arrests of Critics’ Families

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    Amnesty: URGENT ACTION UPDATE: ARBITRARILY DETAINED COUPLE REMAINS HELD

    HRW: Renewed Detention of Scholar’s Daughter Unlawful

    HRW: Renewed Detention of Scholar’s Daughter Unlawful

    AOHR UK: The Egyptian authorities’ refusal to release Ola Al-Qaradawi, and renewing her imprisonment on a new case, is malicious.

    AOHR UK: The Egyptian authorities’ refusal to release Ola Al-Qaradawi, and renewing her imprisonment on a new case, is malicious.

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    Amnesty Releases an Urgent Action for Ola al-Qaradawi's Hunger Strike

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    40 Members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary Pompeo specifically mentioning Ola and Hosam

    40 Members of Congress signed a letter to Secretary Pompeo specifically mentioning Ola and Hosam

    US State Department Express Concern about the Conditions of Ola al Qaradawi & Hosam Khalaf

    US State Department Express Concern about the Conditions of Ola al Qaradawi & Hosam Khalaf

    Amnesty: URGENT ACTION UPDATE: ARBITRARILY DETAINED COUPLE REMAINS HELD

    Amnesty: URGENT ACTION UPDATE: ARBITRARILY DETAINED COUPLE REMAINS HELD

    The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The Working Group on Egypt’s Letter to Secretary of State Pompeo

    The Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: The Working Group on Egypt’s Letter to Secretary of State Pompeo

    POMED: The Working Group on Egypt’s Letter to Secretary of State Pompeo

    POMED: The Working Group on Egypt’s Letter to Secretary of State Pompeo

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    Citizen Truth: Amnesty International Condemns Egypt’s System of Perpetual Imprisonment

    AlJazeera: Daughter of Islamic scholar al-Qaradawi remanded in Egypt again

    AlJazeera: Daughter of Islamic scholar al-Qaradawi remanded in Egypt again

    MEMO: Egypt returns Ola Al-Qaradawi to solitary confinement

    MEMO: Egypt returns Ola Al-Qaradawi to solitary confinement

    HAKESH: Ola al Qaradawi goes on hunger strike after being arrested

    HAKESH: Ola al Qaradawi goes on hunger strike after being arrested

    Anadolu Agency: Prominent scholar's daughter remanded in Egypt again

    Anadolu Agency: Prominent scholar's daughter remanded in Egypt again

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    Help Free My Grandparents!

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    Egyptians in America - Joint Letter to Embassy

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    Sign The Online Petition to Help Free Ola and Hosam

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    Print, Capture and Share !

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    Amnesty Urgent Action - Write for Ola and Hosam's Freedom

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Egyptian Judiciary in Service of Repression
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Egyptian Judiciary in Service of Repression

November 23rd, 2020 admin News 0 comments

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Walid Shawky, a dentist and activist in Egypt, spent nearly two years in pretrial detention over abusive charges of “joining a terrorist organization,” “spreading false news,” and “misusing social media” without ever facing trial. On August 23, a judge ordered Shawky’s conditional release. It took authorities four days to transfer him from Cairo’s Tora Prison to al-Khalifa Police Station, just 14 kilometers away. He was then transferred twice more, eventually to the police station in Dekernis, north of Cairo, where his registered residence is. Detainees routinely must wait for the “extra-legal” National Security Agency’s “approval” for their release which sometimes takes a couple of weeks. But Shawky remains in detention today.

From September 1, Shawky’s family and lawyer did not know his whereabouts for more than a month. Then he appeared before a State Security Prosecutor in Cairo on October 6, where prosecutors added him to a new case, with dozens of defendants, on the same charges, plus a new one: taking part in an unauthorized protest, which, according to his lawyer, was impossible since it took place while he was jailed. Shawky is now back in Tora Prison.

This practice of “recycling” detainees is how security agencies, despite judges’ orders, keep dissidents in custody indefinitely. Judges and prosecutors are complicit. On November 3, judges ordered the release of over 450 detainees who had spent months or years in pretrial detention, but prosecutors added at least 61 of them, such as blogger Mohamed Oxyen and Sinai activist Ayman al-Rateel, to existing new cases. Hundreds of activists and journalists have likely been caught in these revolving prison doors.

Egyptian authorities extensively use pretrial detention without justification. Lax laws, with only cursory judicial oversight, cap pretrial detention at two years. But security agencies have found this marvelous workaround. Al-jazeera journalist Mahmoud Hussein, arrested in December 2016, Strong Egypt Party’s leaders Abd al-Moneim Abu al-Fotouh and Mohamed al-Qassas arrested, in February 2018, Ola al-Qaradawi and her husband Hossam Khalaf, arrested in June 2017, and Muslim Brotherhood leader Gehad al-Haddad, arrested in September 2013, all remain in jail despite these laws.

Egypt’s use of pretrial detention transforms it from what it should be – a precautionary, exceptional measure – into a tool of political punishment wielded by security agencies and rubber-stamped by the judiciary on a large scale, even as a global pandemic threatens prison populations. Authorities should end this practice of endless pretrial detention and remember they are messing with peoples’ lives.

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Ordeal Timeline
Dec 31st 8:15 PM
Campaign Statements

Ola al-Qaradawi Released, Hosam Remains Detained

Aug 7th 2:41 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Renewed For 15 Days

Jul 15th 8:02 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola taken to court a day early for the pre-trial detention hearing of her new case Prosecutor extended her detention for 15 days

Jul 4th 4:13 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola Al-Qaradawi Charged In a New Case, Sent Back into Solitary Confinement and Has Started an Open Hunger Strike

Jul 3rd 1:56 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola Given a Conditional Release and Hosam’s Hearing Delayed

Jun 19th 5:52 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola and Hosam Retrial postponed until July 3 2019 due to African Cup of Nations

Jun 12th 9:44 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola and Hosam brought to court today but then postponed until June 18th

May 14th 7:13 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Hosam Khalaf’s Mother Passes Away While he is Detained in Prison

Apr 19th 7:27 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola and Hosam Renewed in the Midst of Recent Releases

Mar 17th 8:22 PM
Campaign Statements

Campaign Update: Ola and Hosam are Included in the US State Department’s 2018 Human Rights Report

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