Amnesty starts campaign for release of Egyptian inmates

ISTANBUL/ANKARA

A global rights group launched a campaign Wednesday to secure the release of human rights defenders who are arbitrarily detained by authorities in Egypt.

“Ten years after the Jan. 25 Revolution in Egypt, activists and human rights defenders are still arbitrarily held in prisons,” Amnesty International said on Twitter to mark 10 years since the revolution ended the previous Egyptian regime of Husni Mubarak.

It urged everyone interested in world affairs to support a recent campaign on Twitter that demands the immediate release of prisoners.

“We will share the names of these activists and human rights defenders in Egypt for a week. Tell Egyptian President Abdelfattah al-Sisi that you are in solidarity with the prisoners,” it said.

“Prison officials show utter disregard for the lives and wellbeing of prisoners crammed into the country’s overcrowded prisons and largely ignore their health needs,” the group said in a report on Jan. 25.

The report shows how prison authorities have failed to protect prisoners from the coronavirus pandemic.

Egyptians marked on Monday the anniversary of the Arab Spring protests which led to the end of Mubarak's 30-year rule in the country.

The string of protests in 2011 against dictatorships across the Arab world spread after a Tunisian street vendor self-immolated to protest that regime's human rights abuse.

Egyptians staged protests on Jan. 25, 2011, against unemployment and corruption as security forces responded with disproportionate violence that killed hundreds of people.

The ensuing demonstrations forced Mubarak to step down on Feb. 11, 2011.