Press Releases

1 June 2012

With the End of More Than 30 Years of Emergency Rule… EIPR: A First Step Towards Establishing the Rule of Law and Ending Impunity

Today, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) welcomed the end of the state of emergency, which had been in place for more than 30 years.

9 May 2012

With the Continued Attacks on Field and Public Hospitals and their Medical Crew and Assaults on Injured Civilians: The EIPR Calls for Firm Action be Taken to Prevent the Recurrence of Such Attacks

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the continued violation of the basic principles of medical neutrality by security forces, and the denial of medical treatment for those injured and wounded, during the dispersal of the Abbasiya sit-in by force on Friday, May 4, 2012.

7 May 2012

Abbasiya Events a Continuation of SCAF’s Systematic Violations of Human Rights in the Transitional Period

The undersigned Egyptian rights organizations condemn the treatment of sit-ins and demonstrations in Egypt from the time of the ouster of former president Hosni Mubarak until now, as a result of which hundreds have been killed and thousands injured and detained.

12 March 2012

We Pledge to Continue the Pursuit of All Involved in this Crime and Attempted Cover-Up: Military 'Virginity Testing' Verdict: Not the Last Battle

The undersigned organizations today stated that the acquittal of the military doctor accused in the 'virginity testing' case did not come as a surprise, and furthermore opens the door to the prosecution of members of the military council using international mechanisms, after remedies inside Egypt have been exhausted.

6 March 2012

After 10 Years of Detention Without Trial: Egyptian Government Fails to Assist Last Egyptian in Guantanamo

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) today urged the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, the Egyptian government and the People’s Assembly to take all immediate measures to demand that the American government release Egyptian national Tarek Mahmoud Ahmed El-Sawah, who has been detained without trial for over ten years at Guantanamo.

26 February 2012

Five Rights Organisations Demand an Immediate End to the Use of Firearms in Dispersing Demonstrations

Five human rights organisations today held a press conference calling for a ban on the use of firearms in dispersing demonstrations. The conference came two days before the second court hearing of the case requiring an abolition of the use of firearms in dispersing demonstrators, which will be held on Tuesday 28 February before the First Circuit of the Cairo Administrative Court.

14 February 2012

Egyptian Authorities Repeal Death Sentences for 2004 Taba Bombing Suspects - After Trials by Special Courts Found to Violate Basic Rights

Egypt Must Prevent Torture and Ensure Fair Trials Says Decision Endorsed by African Union

2 February 2012

Witness Accounts Around the Port Said Tragedy

In the aftermath of the bloody events which took place in Port Said on Wednesday 1 February 2012, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) sent a fact-finding mission to the city. The mission reached Port Said before midnight on Wednesday and immediately began interviewing witnesses. The EIPR publishes some of their testimonies:

16 January 2012

Will the Court of Administrative Justice Stop the Killing of Demonstrators?

On Tuesday, 17 January, the Court of Administrative Justice in Cairo will hear a case filed to suspend and abolish the Interior Minister decree permitting the use of firearms and live ammunition to disperse demonstrations and sit-ins (Decree 156/1964). The case (no 9544/66JY) was filed by activists Fatima Abed and Malek Mustafa, the latter of whom was hit with a rubber bullet in his right eye on 19 November 2011, inflicting a permanent loss of vision.

4 January 2012

The Interior Minister Must Immediately Retract the ‘Shoot to Kill Bonuses’ Decision... The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights: The Policies of the New Minister Violate Police Law and Open the Gates of Hell

The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemned the new policy of the Interior Minister that gives police officers a shoot to kill license, and offers bonuses to police officers who shoot and kill 'thugs'.