Protest Against Unjust Prison Sentences On The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Activists

To:  H.E. Mr Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, President of The Arab Republic of Egypt

A PROTEST AGAINST UNJUST PRISON SENTENCES ON KHAIRAT AL-SHATER AND OTHER MUSLIM BROTHERHOOD ACTIVISTS

We are deeply concerned about the unjust prison term of seven years which has been handed down to Khairat Al-Shater, third-in-command of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB), in the trial verdict announced on 15 April 2008 in Egypt. Several of his co-defendants have also been sentenced to prison terms of between three to ten years.

We are shocked at this blatant disregard for justice and human rights by your government with regards to the MB political activists in the past year. Mr Al-Shater and the other detained MB leaders, known in the Egyptian society for their good standing and reputable position, were arrested over accusations which they had completely denied and denounced. They were subjected to trumped-up charges of terrorism, money-laundering and financing a banned organization with little or no evidence to substantiate these claims. This is evident from the fact that a civilian court absolved them of all charges, declared them to be innocent and ordered their release. However, they were re-arrested to be tried in a military court for non—military related charges. Their financial assets were ordered to be frozen. Many injustices and breaches of international human rights standards were reported throughout this trial.

Now, after spending over a year in prison, these innocent civilians have been given prison sentences for no apparent reason other than the fact that they used their right to freedom of speech and freedom of association to denounce the unjust practices of the current Egyptian government.

Your country is a party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), and is obliged to provide freedom of expression and association to its civilians and uphold the rights of the detainees. Yet, in this case Egypt has sadly shown complete disregard for the international covenant.

I urge you to ensure that all MB detainees, who have been handed down prison terms, are immediately released and are allowed their right to peacefully express their political opinions and interests.

Sincerely,

The Undersigned

The Protest Against Unjust Prison Sentences On The Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood Activists Petition to H.E. Mr Mohamed Hosni Mubarak, President of The Arab Republic of Egypt was created by and written by AHMAD MUSLIM ALI (amali.my@gmail.com).  This petition is hosted here at www.PetitionOnline.com as a public service. There is no endorsement of this petition, express or implied, by Artifice, Inc. or our sponsors. For technical support please use our simple Petition Help form.