Aisha el-Shater, 41, daughter of Muslim Brotherhood senior leader Khairat el-Shater, and her husband lawyer Mohamed Abo Horeira are on trial by the Emergency State Security Court on bogus charges stemming from their family affiliations and peaceful exercise of their human rights. The Egyptian authorities have subjected Aisha el-Shater to torture by holding her in prolonged solitary confinement, barring any family visits for more than three and a half years and deliberately denying her access to adequate healthcare even though she has a serious and potentially life-threatening health condition.
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President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Office of the President Al Ittihadia Palace
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax +202 2391 1441
Email: [email protected]
Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial
Ambassador Motaz Zahran
Embassy of the Arab Republic of Egypt
3521 International Ct NW, Washington DC 20008
Phone: 202 895 5400 I Fax: 202 244 5131
Email: [email protected] , [email protected]
Twitter: @EgyptEmbassyUSA , @MotazZahran
Facebook: @EgyptEmbassyUSA
Salutation: Dear Ambassador
SAMPLE LETTER
Your Excellency,
Aisha el-Shater, the 41-year-old daughter of senior Muslim Brotherhood leader Khairat el-Shater, and her husband lawyer Mohamed Abo Horeira have been arbitrarily detained for over three and a half years, solely for peacefully exercising their human rights and for their family affiliations. On August 23, 2021, after spending more than 32 months in pre-trial detention, prosecutors indicted them and referred them to trial by the Emergency State Security Court (ESSC) on charges of joining, financing and supporting a “terrorist group”, in reference to the Muslim Brotherhood. The trial began on September 11, 2021 and has been adjourned to June 13, 2022.
Officials at al-Qanater women’s prison held Aisha el-Shater in solitary confinement in a small poorly ventilated cell, without a bathroom, from January 2019 until December 2020. Guards forced her to wear light clothes in her unheated cell during cold winter months and regularly conducted searches of her cell, confiscating her hygiene products and other personal belongings. Since her detention, the authorities have denied her any family visits, and barred any written or phone communication with her family and lawyers. This treatment amounts to torture, a crime under international law. Aisha el- Shater has aplastic anaemia, a rare and serious condition affecting the blood, which increases the risk of infections and uncontrolled bleeding. Despite this, the authorities have denied her access to adequate and specialized healthcare in an outside hospital. Her health deteriorated in detention, and she was admitted, while handcuffed, to Al-Qasr al-Ainy hospital twice in October 2019, with significant bleeding, and was given a platelet transfusion. Since December 2020, she has been held at the al-Qanater prison clinic, but she requires specialist and ongoing treatment in adequately equipped facilities, not available in prison. During the May 15, 2022 trial hearing, the ESSC ordered for Aisha el-Shater’s examination by a committee of three doctors to advise on whether she needs treatment outside prison. As she is banned from communicating with the outside word, her family and lawyers have no information on whether the examination has taken place.
We urge you to ensure that Aisha el-Shater and Mohamed Abo Horeira are immediately and unconditionally released and all charges against them are dropped as their detention and prosecution stem solely from their relationship to a senior Muslim Brotherhood leader and from the exercise of their human rights. Pending their release, we call on you to ensure that they are provided with the means to regularly communicate with their family and lawyers and provided with access to adequate health care including outside prison.
Sincerely,
[YOUR NAME]
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