Amnesty International said today that the Egyptian authorities must immediately end their shameful campaign of intimidation against outspoken journalist and female human rights defender Rasha Azzab.
Rasha Azab, an outspoken critic of the Egyptian government’s response to the conflict in Gaza, has been repeatedly threatened and harassed since hostilities broke out on October 7, 2023. The man followed her and told her through an intermediary that security agencies would arrest her.
On November 9, the Journalists Syndicate submitted a formal complaint to the prosecutor on behalf of Rasha Azab, demanding an immediate investigation.
“It is completely disgraceful that Rasha Azab is under surveillance and threatened with arrest for her peaceful activities. It sends a chilling message to other activists about the consequences of speaking out about dissent in Egypt,” Amnesty International Egyptian researcher Mahmoud Shalaby said.
“It is completely disgraceful that Rasha Azab is under surveillance and threatened with arrest for her peaceful activities. It sends a chilling message to other activists about the consequences of speaking out about dissent in Egypt.
“Prosecutors must immediately launch an effective investigation into Rasha Azzab’s complaints and ensure that the investigation addresses the role of state actors. Rasha Azzab’s rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly must be upheld.
Physical surveillance and threats of arrest
Rasha Azab told Amnesty International that she had been threatened with arrest by multiple security agencies since October 7, 2023. The threats were communicated through phone calls between public figures and various security agencies. In those calls, Rasha Azab said she was warned to soften her criticism of the government and not organize protests over Egypt’s response to the conflict in Gaza. Rasha Azab reports that she was repeatedly told that it would be “better for her” to leave the country.
Rasha Azab has also been subject to relentless physical surveillance since October 2024.
Rasha Azab and her brother, lawyer Muhammad Azab, said that on November 8, 2024, three plainclothes men, one of whom was riding a motorcycle, followed Rasha Azab. Rasha Azab was walking through al-Daher Square in western Cairo to view apartments for sale. Rasha Azab said she recognized the men from the two previous incidents. The first occurred on October 8, 2024, when they followed her after she left a meeting of the Journalists Syndicate in downtown Cairo. The second occurred on October 28, when they followed her on a mission to cover the demolition of Cairo’s historic Imam Shafiyah cemetery.
For the third time, Rasha Azab decided to confront these people. She approaches them and, with the help of local residents, asks them who they are and why they are following her. They refused to answer. Local residents called the police, who arrived and asked Rasha Azab to report the incident to the Daher Police Station. Police also took two of the three men to the station, while the third man managed to escape before police arrived. After waiting for two hours, a police officer informed Rasha that the two had escaped on their way to the police station. The officer declined to file a report, citing “directions from superiors” but did not specify who gave the order.
According to Rasha and another lawyer who requested anonymity, a police officer at the Daher police station said the men had nothing to do with the police station and may have been sent by another security agency. Another police officer, also at the Dahr police station, told Mohammad Azab: “It’s not us. You’d better solve this problem with them,” possibly referring to the National Security Agency (NSA).
Failure to investigate Rasha Azab’s car theft case
On November 5, Rasha Azab’s car was stolen in the Zamalek neighborhood of central Cairo, an area heavily guarded because of the large number of foreign embassies. The chief of police at the local Castle Nile police station told her that the identity of the thief could be revealed through CCTV footage. However, the authorities never provided any further information.
On November 9, the Public Prosecution Service summoned Raza to give a statement about the theft, but prosecutors told her they were still waiting for the police to send the video. During the investigation, Rasha Azab accused the interior minister and the head of the National Security Service of orchestrating her surveillance and the theft of her car.
When Rasha Azab tried to view the footage between November 13 and 21, prosecutors told her they had not yet received it. On November 21st they promised her the footage would be delivered by November 25th, but this was not the case.
The complaint filed by the Journalists Syndicate calls for an investigation into the physical surveillance of Rasha Azab and the theft of her car. On December 2, she was summoned by prosecutors to make a statement on the complaint.
background
Rasha Azab participated in several pro-Palestinian protests, including one in front of UN Women in Cairo on April 24, 2024, when she was arrested along with about 17 others. She has also participated in numerous protests in front of the Journalists’ Syndicate, calling on the Egyptian government to open the Rafah crossing to provide humanitarian aid and objecting to the passage of ships with ties to Israel through Egyptian territorial waters.
In April 2022, Rasha Azab went on trial on charges of “insult”, “defamation” and “intentional harassment”. [the plaintiff]film director Islam Azazi]who expressed solidarity with survivors of sexual violence in a tweet. After a public outcry, a court acquitted her and dropped the charges against her.
