Brussels, 27/01/2015 (Agence Europe) - On Tuesday 27 January, 42 members of the European Parliament called for the release of the protesters who were arrested at rallies for the 40th anniversary of the Egyptian revolution. They also called for an investigation to be opened into the death of Shaimaa el-Sabag, a member of Egypt's socialist popular alliance party.
“We call on the president Abdel Fattah al-Sissi to initiate a fair and open investigation of Shaimaa El Sabag's death”, the MEPs stated in a letter to High Representative of the EU for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini. “According to activists, Shaimaa El-Sabag was peacefully participating in a small protest commemorating the revolution in Cairo's Tahrir Square on Saturday [24 January] when she was shot dead”, they added. MEPs from the S&D group, but also from the Greens/EFA, GUE, ALDE, EPP and ECR groups, called on Egypt's prosecutor general to ensure that those responsible for Shaimaa El-Sabag's death be brought before a court. “Her murder is a grim reminder of Egypt's worrying spiral when it comes to the respect of basic rights and freedoms since July 2013”, said leader of the European Parliament's S&D group, Gianni Pittella.
In their letter, written at the initiative of Tanja Fajon (S&D, Slovenia), the MEPs also protested against the use of force - which led to the death of at least 17 other people in Cairo (see EUROPE 11239). “According to the media reports, this was a peaceful protest, therefore should not come to the use of force from police officers”, the MEPs of 17 different nationalities wrote. They argued against the detention of the protesters, including socialist supporters and journalists, and they reiterated that the protesters' detention is “unjustified” and “violates the basic human rights of freedom of expression”. Egypt's minister for the interior announced that over 500 Muslim Brotherhood supporters were arrested during the clashes, suspected of acts of violence.
On 15 January, the European Parliament adopted a resolution calling for the respect of fundamental freedoms, including the freedoms of expression, association and assembly (see EUROPE 11231). (CG)