March 2024
Mesahat Newsletter March 2024
In This Newsletter:
1. An increase in bullying and blackmail crimes against women in Egypt
2. Civil society organizations case closed after 13 years of investigation
3. Cairo 52 issues a guide to laws, policies, and judicial rulings affecting the rights of the LGBT community in Egypt
4. Cairo 52 center for legal studies publishes research on trans people’s access to health care in Egypt
5. The death toll in Sudan is higher than currently reported
6. Rapid Support Forces raped three nurses at Al-Hasahisa Hospital
7. Foreign tours by Burhan and his deputy, and a war of attrition in the cities of Khartoum
8. Civilian casualties were shot by unruly groups in Omdurman
9. The issuance of visas to Sudanese people in the State of Oman has stopped
An increase in bullying and blackmail crimes against women in Egypt
Speak Up! initiative prepared a study on cyber blackmail crimes against women in Egypt and published it this March. The study titled: “The reality of cyber bullying and blackmail crimes in Egypt,” cited the cases of the two girls, Basant Khaled, 17 years old, and Heidi Shehta, 14 years old, who left the world within one month, January 2022, because they were exposed to electronic blackmail.
Despite the high rate of cyberbullying and blackmail crimes, official statistics are absent, according to what the study found, pointing out that the last official statistics date back to the year 2018, prepared by the Communications and Information Technology Committee of the House of Representatives on the occasion of issuing the Anti-Cybercrime Law. It was revealed that in the months of September and October of that year 1,038 cybercrime reports were submitted. The study included a questionnaire conducted by the “Speak Up!” initiative, through its accounts on social media platforms, in which 3,176 people who had been subjected to blackmail participated, 90% of whom were women, and only 10% of them submitted official reports due to not knowing the possibility of reporting, or Fear of the family, or of the consequences of reporting the blackmailer.
The study found that the Egyptian laws that criminalize blackmail and cyberbullying do not protect victims in practice, due to the lack of appropriate mechanisms for their implementation in addition to the slow response of the Internet Investigations to this type of reports. The questionnaire showed that only 11% of reports ended with the arrest of the accused, while 41% of reports ended up being filed without action.
More details: https://bit.ly/3xogQCc
Civil society organizations case closed after 13 years of investigation
After 13 years of investigations, seizure of funds, and travel bans, the curtain came down on Case No. 173 of 2011, known as the “Civil Society Organizations” case, with Counselor Ahmed Abdel Aziz Qatlan, the investigating judge in the case, issuing a decision that there was no reason to bring a criminal case due to insufficient evidence against five organizations: The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), Arab Penal Reform Organization (APRO), Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS), and El-Nadeem Against Violence and Torture Organization.
The decision of the judge assigned by the Cairo Court of Appeal included removing the names of the defendants from the travel bans lists and asset freezes. Despite the investigating judge’s indication, in the statement, that there are no grounds for filing a criminal case against 85 organizations, the Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP) is still suspended, according to its director, Nasser Amin, who explained that the Center is still involved in the case, according to his knowledge, and the travel ban and seizure of funds are in place, noting that the center’s file was referred, in 2015, separately to the Supreme State Security Prosecution but within the same case number, and so far no decision has been issued by the prosecution or coordination has taken place with the investigating judge on this matter. Nasser adds: “We are waiting to be informed if there is a decision to close the entire case.” Case No. 173 of 2011, known as “Civil Society Organizations,” began after the Council of Ministers asked the Ministry of Justice to form a fact-finding committee specialized in foreign funding received by civil society organizations. This committee requested assistance from the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation, the Ministry of Social Solidarity, and the National Security Agency, General Intelligence, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In December 2011, police stormed the headquarters of 17 civil society organizations operating in Egypt, detained a number of their workers and confiscated their belongings. Before the prosecution referred 43 workers in those organizations - including 27 foreigners - to trial in February 2012, on charges that included: “receiving money from abroad with the intention of committing an act harmful to the national interest or harming the country’s independence or unity, and running associations without a license.”
More details: https://bit.ly/3vGjmTN
Cairo 52 issues a guide to laws, policies, and judicial rulings affecting the rights of the LGBT community in Egypt
The Cairo 52 Center for Legal Studies launched a complete guide on the laws, policies, and judicial rulings that affect the human rights of the LGBT community in Egypt. The guide sheds light on the complexity of the legal framework that affects individuals of sexual and gender diversity in Egypt, as a number of laws, policies, and judicial precedents contribute to its formation. And while the focus is on the laws used by the Egyptian authorities to prosecute individuals of sexual and gender diversity, the Egyptian authorities constantly use different methods not only to criminalize LGBT identities but also to hide them from the public space, and these methods vary from denying trans individuals legal recognition, to implementing a package of policies that aim to “protect young people from the corrupt ideology of the LGBT community.” These policies vary and develop continuously, and this is what the report reviews and analyzes.
More details: https://bit.ly/3UcO7JD
Cairo 52 center for legal studies publishes research on trans people’s access to health care in Egypt
Cairo 52 Center for Legal Studies published a paper entitled Understanding the Needs and Challenges of Transgender People Accessing Gender-affirming Health-care in Egypt. The research includes advocacy recommendations based on the findings, and presents a preliminary version of a law proposal to regulate access to gender-affirming health care. The purpose is to facilitate legal discussions on potential reforms that would support Egypt's international and constitutional obligations regarding the right to health and equality for trans individuals. It is worth noting that there are no laws regulating gender or sexual transition in Egypt, and the entire process is subject to an internal regulation in the Medical Syndicate, where that regulation regulates the work of the so-called “Gender Correction Committee,” which is the committee responsible for managing and following up on the cases of transgender people, and due to several gaps in that list, the committee’s work has been repeatedly suspended for long periods, which disrupts individuals’ cases for periods exceeding years.
More details: https://bit.ly/3TLtrGU
The death toll in Sudan is higher than currently reported
Nearly 1,000 bodies were reported buried in one of Omdurman's old neighborhoods. According to BBC correspondent Muhannad Hashem, this indicates that the death toll in Sudan is much higher than currently reported. Given the current situation, it is difficult to obtain reliable reports and numbers for victims of the Sudanese war, especially victims of sexual and gender diversity.
More details: https://bit.ly/3PPV7JM
Rapid Support Forces raped three nurses at Al-Hasahisa Hospital
With the expansion of the Rapid Support militia’s attacks and its incursion into areas of civilians and service institutions, since the outbreak of the war, it began targeting medical personnel, as approximately 80% of medical institutions stopped as a result of their occupation or destruction at the hands of the Rapid Support Forces. In Al-Jazeera State alone, approximately 900 institutions stopped. Medical personnel were suspended from work as a result of the Rapid Support militia’s attack on the state on December 15, with reports of physical and sexual attacks on medical personnel. The attack by military forces on health facilities and their staff greatly threatens the lives of patients and workers, and this reflects on the community of sexual and gender diversity, which before the war faced difficulty in communicating with supportive doctors. The situation now becomes a lack of facilities and medicine.
More details: https://bit.ly/4aBextJ
Foreign tours by Burhan and his deputy, and a war of attrition in the cities of Khartoum
The Sudanese army is trying to benefit from the momentum of its military progress on the ground, in the form of external movements by the head of the Sovereignty Council, Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, and his deputy, Malik Agar. The latter began an external tour last Wednesday, which lasted for about a week, and included Uganda and Rwanda. A military source also said that the army is completely besieging the Omdurman region, adding that the Rapid Support there is trying to maintain its stock of ammunition and military equipment, in addition to trying to use some prisoners as human shields, and with the recent developments of the war in favor of the Sudanese army in the cities of the Sudanese capital, fears arise, on the other hand, that the possibility of the collapse of the Rapid Support Forces in Khartoum may lead to a new wave of violence in the Darfur region, that has been troubled for over 20 continuous years, as the Rapid Support Forces will then seek to consolidate their strongholds there. The continuation of the war without serious attempts to stop it means difficulty reaching people of sexual and gender diversity, and their staying in places that do not accept them and often pose a threat to their lives.
More details: https://bit.ly/4aloCuY
Civilian casualties were shot by unruly groups in Omdurman
The Revolution Resistance Committees - District 19, said that an unruly armed group attacked Mustafa Adel Suleiman Mudawi, which led to his immediate death, after he was shot directly in the head with live bullets. A statement by the resistance committees said on Monday that Mustafa died in self-defense after an unruly armed group consisting of three individuals attempted to steal his phone in Omdurman. The unruly thugs not only killed Mustafa, but also wounded a grocery store owner with a bullet in his shoulder and another person with a bullet in his stomach, all at the same time and place. The emergence of unruly groups means the spread of crimes and violations against defenseless civilians, and the lack of control over them. People of sexual and gender diversity represent a target of both society and police agencies, which makes them more vulnerable to danger if they are identified.
More details: https://bit.ly/4cICml3
The issuance of visas to Sudanese people in the State of Oman has stopped
The Sudanese Embassy in the Sultanate of Oman announced the temporary suspension of the issuance of visas. The embassy indicated on its official website that the platform has currently been suspended and thus will not receive applications until the previously submitted procedures are completed. It noted that the work of receiving applications will resume in the month of April. Stopping receiving and issuing entry permits to Sudanese people means that Sudanese people of sexual and gender diversity are unable to avoid the dangers of war and displacement in Sudan by seeking refuge in other countries.
More details: https://bit.ly/3TMmaGS