by praveen | May 24, 2018 | Arrest and Detention, Latest News, Pretrial Rights
May 16, 2018 – WASHINGTON ― A 27-year-old American man detained in Egypt for nearly five years has been freed, according to his lawyer. “Today, after spending 1,733 days in jail for allegedly committing crimes at a protest he never attended, American Ahmed Etiwy and his cousin were released from an Egyptian prison,” Praveen Madhiraju of the nonprofit Pretrial Rights International wrote in a Wednesday afternoon statement. “The two were released at the start of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, an occasion that has been traditionally marked by such pardons.” Read more...
by praveen | May 24, 2018 | Arrest and Detention, Latest News, Pretrial Rights
MAy 10, 2018 – For Americans behind bars in Iran, Egypt, Turkey and elsewhere, homecoming ceremonies appear to be a long way off. WASHINGTON ― President Donald Trump warmly received three Americans back from North Korean imprisonment early Thursday, calling their release a vindication of his aggressive foreign policy strategy. But many Americans jailed by other repressive regimes around the world appear to have gained little from Trump’s ad-hoc and often confrontational international approach, their advocates say, and in several cases the president may have actually made it harder for them to come home. Read more on the Huffington Post’s...
by praveen | Jan 18, 2018 | Arrest and Detention, Case Studies, Latest News, Pretrial Rights
December 26, 2017 – Vice President Mike Pence will travel to Egypt next month, and there’s a group of Americans watching that trip very closely. They are the friends and relatives of people who’ve been swept up in arrests in Egypt over the past few years…. Listen to the rest of the story on...
by praveen | Dec 18, 2017 | Arrest and Detention, Case Studies, Latest News, Pretrial Rights
Families Of Americans Imprisoned In Egypt Pin Their Hopes On … Mike Pence …Nearly 20 U.S. citizens have become used to a different kind of Egyptian hospitality. One is a 52-year-old father who only receives his diabetes medication at random intervals, during the odd visit when prison guards decide relatives including his wife and two daughters can hand it to him. He has spent more than four years in detention without an official verdict or sentence. Another is 27 years old and desperate to complete the degree he was working on when security officers arrested him for being in the vicinity of a political protest. He had gone to the area to help his grandfather catch a bus. The two men, Mustafa Kassem and Ahmed Etiwy, and others who have yet to be publicly identified are caught up in what rights groups call the worst wave of repression in modern Egyptian history. Advocates for them and other detainees with ties to the U.S., like a pair of green card holders with multiple family members in America, see Pence’s trip as a vital moment. It’s the last chance this year for President Donald Trump’s “America First” administration ― which loudly celebrated its role in helping one detained U.S. citizen out of Egyptian custody earlier this year ― to make a real difference on the issue. Demands that Sisi release the jailed Americans “need not dominate the meetings nor distract from other important issues, yet can and do achieve big results,” said Praveen Madhiraju, a pro bono attorney for Kassem and Etiwy at the nonprofit Pretrial Rights International. Read...
by PRI | Sep 20, 2017 | Arrest and Detention, Latest News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Contact: Julie Tarallo or Samantha Hiller Wednesday, September 20, 2017 (202) 224-7130 STATEMENT BY SASC CHAIRMAN JOHN McCAIN ON MASS TRIAL IN EGYPT Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator John McCain (R-AZ), Chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, released the following statement today on the mass trial in Egypt in which hundreds of people were unjustly sentenced to prison, including American citizen Ahmed Etiwy: “While it was encouraging to see the acquittal of Ibrahim Halawa, hundreds of other innocent people were unjustly sentenced in a mass trial involving 494 defendants, including American citizen Ahmed Etiwy. The trial defied any judicial precedent and reveals significant deficiencies of rule of law in Egypt. It is time for the Egyptian Judiciary to restore its reputation as an independent, non-politicized branch of government and either retry each of the defendants in line with international due process standards or commute their sentences. “Nearly 20 American citizens, NGO workers, and thousands of Egyptian dissidents remain behind bars under a deeply restrictive anti-protest law that infringes on internationally recognized rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and association. This is part of a troubling crackdown on civil society and independent voices across Egypt that threatens to undermine Egypt’s long-term security and stability. Congress should strengthen democratic benchmarks and human rights conditions on U.S. assistance for Egypt in order to hold the Government of Egypt accountable for its human rights violations.”...
by PRI | Sep 18, 2017 | Arrest and Detention, Case Studies, Latest News
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Monday, September 18, 2017 Contact: Jaime Horn; 917-523-0705 Jaime@NewHeightsCommunications.com Citizens Wrongfully Imprisoned in Egypt Sentenced Egyptian Court sentences American and Solah Soltan WASHINGTON (Monday, September 18, 2017) – Today, Freedom First, and Pretrial Rights International, both nonpartisan human rights groups based in Washington D.C., that aim to highlight the suffering of tens of thousands of prisoners in Egypt released the following statement regarding today’s hearing concerning the fate of two men who have been imprisoned in Egypt since 2013: “We are heartbroken by the court’s verdict for Ahmed Etiwy,” said Praveen Madhiraju of Pretrial Rights. “He is a college student, convicted for protesting at a protest that he never attended. Having already served more than 80% of his sentence, he should be released immediately and pardoned. President Trump is meeting with President Sisi this week in New York. We urge him to put these Americans first. Not President Sisi.” “My father, Salah Soltan, was sentenced to life in prison for giving a sermon where he asked protestors to disperse, respect the curfew and governmental institutions,” said Mohamed Soltan of Freedom First.“His case has always been politicized because of who he is, not what he did. This is Sisi’s Egypt.” Both groups expressed their joy for Ibrahim Halawa’s acquittal and urged the Egyptian government to release him immediately. Ahmed Etiwy, 27 of New York was arrested with two relatives after dropping his grandfather off at a bus station outside the Al-Fath mosque. Ibrahim Halawa, 21, was arrested with three of his sisters during...
