The Egyptian government sentenced human rights activists to prison on terrorism charges

Human Rights Defenders and the 2012 Climate Summit in Sharm el Sheikh: When El-Fatta and Hossam Bahgat met

In another world, El-Fatta might have been at the COP 27 climate summit on the shore of the Red Sea in Sharm el-Sheikh. Instead, Egyptian security forces have imprisoned him multiple times over the past decade, following his role in the 2011 uprising that ousted former president Hosni Mubarak. He has been on a hunger strike for about six months.

Speaking out can be dangerous in Egypt, where human rights groups consider President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi’s government to be an authoritarian regime that has presided over rampant human rights abuses, including mass arrests, the killing of protesters by security forces, and the use of military trials against civilians. His reign began in 2014 following a military coup that ousted the democratically elected, Muslim Brotherhood–affiliated Mohamed Morsi. El-Sisi’s administration has a long history of stifling protests and has limited demonstrations during this climate summit, too. It has threatened protesters with fines and imprisonment, and protesters must register for permission just to hold a rally in a cordoned-off spot in the desert, separate from the conference.

“The Egyptians there will face reprisals given the history of mass surveillance,” he says of the protesters. “After the cameras leave, they will be arrested.”

Still, there have been attempts at raising human rights issues at the conference. Hossam Bahgat was the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for personal rights and called for the attendees of the congress to wear white on Thursday to call for the release of political prisoners in Egypt. The action was promoted with the #FreeThemAll on social media sites.

The Iranian government has issued the first death sentence for a human rights activist convicted of murdering a Muslim Brotherhood leader and spreading corruption on Earth

An Iranian court has issued the first death sentence linked to recent protests, convicting the unnamed person of “enmity against God” and “spreading corruption on Earth,” state media reports.

They were convicted on the charge of “disturbing public order and peace, community, and colluding to commit a crime against national security, war and corruption on Earth, war through arson, and intentional destruction,” according to state news agency IRNA on Sunday.

Five others took part in the protests and were sentenced to between 5 and 10 years in prison, convicted of conspiracy to commit a crime against national security and public peace and order.

IRNA stated that these decisions can be appealed. The news agency did not name the protester who received the death sentence or provide details on when or where they committed the alleged crime.

The Iranian authorities have since charged at least 1,000 people for their alleged involvement in the protests.

The group said in an update to its death toll that the published number represented an “absolute minimum.”

CNN cannot verify that the figure is true as all the media have been suppressed in Iran. The death toll is calculated by the groups and the rights organizations.

Iranian athletes and celebrities are standing with the anti-government protests despite threats of arrests and harsher punishments.

On Friday, United Nations experts said that the Iranian authorities should stop indicting people with death charges for participation in peaceful demonstrations and that the death penalty should not be used to squash protests.

One of Egypt’s most prominent human rights groups, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, reported on the verdicts. The suspects were arrested in the course of a large-scale effort to silence dissent.

A court in Cairo sentenced the two activist lawyers, Ezzat and Mohammed Abu Horarira, to 15 years in prison. They were convicted of joining and funding a terrorist group, which is government parlance for the Muslim Brotherhood.

Egyptian authorities designated the Islamist group a terrorist organization in 2013, the year the military removed Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who hailed from the Brotherhood, from power after a year of divisive rule.

The daughter of one of the Brotherhood’s most powerful leaders, Abu Horarira’s wife, was sentenced to ten years in prison for her role in false news regarding rights abuses by the security forces.

The 14 Egyptian Secular Activists are in a Transcription of the Arab Spring Uprising and have not been Detained by the Egyptian Parliament

The court decided at the time of conviction to impose a five-year sentence, with a travel ban and order to report to a police station.

Amnesty International and other rights group have decried the arrest of the 14 and said their trial reflected “gross violations of their right to a fair trial.”

Rights groups have repeatedly criticized mass sentencings, common over the past years in Egypt in trials related to the Brotherhood or dissent, and called on authorities to ensure fair trials.

Secular activists were involved in the Arab Spring uprising and were imprisoned by Egypt’s government in recent years.