Leading figures across the trade union movement in Britain have thrown their weight behind a campaign in solidarity with journalist Hisham Fouad and lawyer Haitham Mohamedain who have been detained by Egypt’s military regime on trumped up charges. Trade Union Congress president Mark Serwotka, the general secretary of the National Union of Journalists Michelle Stanistreet…
Security forces in Egypt arrested at least 8 activists and politicians in dawn raids this morning, local media and human rights activists said. According to statement by the Egyptian interior ministry, they are facing charges of directing a “economic conspiracy” aimed at siphoning funds from 19 companies towards activities planned by the banned opposition group,…
The killing by medical neglect of former president Mohamed Morsi has highlighted the dire conditions for tens of thousands of political prisoners in Egyptian jails. Morsi collapsed and died in court on 17 June after years in jail, many of them spent in solitary confinement, without access to adequate medical care for his diabetes. In…
Almost exactly a year after his arrest in 2018, labour lawyer Haitham Mohamedain has been detained again after being wrongfully accused of violating his probation terms after release from prison in October. On 13 May, he was summoned to the police station in Saf, south of Cairo, and detained without access to a lawyer, before…
Increasing market competition between UK universities and declining student numbers from Europe is prompting a new round of investment in branch campuses in the Middle East. An investigation for Middle East Solidarity magazine looks at the background to Coventry University’s announcement of a partnership with a private education firm in Egypt for its campus in…
Middle East Solidarity magazine issue 10 Middle East Solidarity magazine is now available to order from Bookmarks bookshop for £3 or can be downloaded as a pdf [MENA Solidarity issue 10_FINAL_WEB] Contact Bookmarks if you would like to make a bulk order for your trade union branch (discounts available). Cover story Sudan rises After thirty…
Political prisoners in Egypt who have been condemned to death in unfair trials are at increasing risk of execution, human rights groups are warning. The military regime put nine young men to death on 20 February bringing the numbers killed in what Amnesty International has called a “bloody execution spree” this year to 15. “The…
Campaigners, family and friends of murdered Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni took to the streets on the third anniversary of his death to demand justice for all of the thousands of people who have suffered forced disappearance and torture at the hands the security forces in Egypt. Giulio vanished in Cairo on 25 January 2016…
Three years ago, on 25 January 2016, Cambridge PhD student Giulio Regeni disappeared in Cairo while conducting fieldwork on the Egyptian independent trade unions. A few days later, his mutilated body was discovered, bearing the hallmarks of the kinds of abuse which is systematically carried by the Egyptian security services. Despite a long-running campaign led…
A campaign by UCU members at the University of Liverpool and University of Cambridge, which was backed by hundreds of academics from across the UK and Egypt Solidarity Initiative, has won a significant victory. According to leaked documents published on the Academic Freedom Watch website, the University of Liverpool was worried about the potential for…
Public meeting – Egypt and human rights Hosted by the Haldane Society of Socialist Lawyers 6.30pm, Thursday 18 October University of Law, 14 Store Street, London,WC1E 7DE https://en-gb.facebook.com/events/597575750639614/ Dr Taher Mukhtar, activist in the Egyptian Doctors’ Union and former political prisoner Anne Alexander, Egypt Solidarity Initiative and co-editor, Middle East Solidarity magazine Anyone who speaks…
Labour lawyer and activist Haitham Mohamedain has been freed from jail in Egypt, after a judge ruled that he should no longer be held in pre-trial detention. Alongside several co-defendants he was facing charges related to alleged membership of a terrorist organisation, and incitement to protest over the rise of fares on the Cairo Metro.…
