Palestinian civil society calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release activist Ramy Shaath

The undersigned Palestinian civil society organizations call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release human rights activist and co-founder of BDS Egypt, Ramy Shaath. Shaath has been detained in an Egyptian prison since July 5th under miserable conditions for his political views and nonviolent activism.

Ramy Shaath is a political and human rights activist who holds both Palestinian and Egyptian nationalities. Through his political work, he promotes support for the Palestinian struggle in Egypt. He has consistently condemned Israeli violations of Palestinian rights and opposed normalization with Israel’s regime of occupation, settler-colonialism and apartheid.

Prior to his arrest, Ramy participated in several public events and conducted a number of interviews with the media, through which he expressed his strong opposition to Egypt’s participation in the Bahrain Economic Peace Conference last June. The vast popular majority across the Arab world also condemned the conference as a part of the US-Israeli plan, dubbed “Deal of the Century,” to eliminate the Palestinian cause and bury Palestinian rights.

The repression of the Egyptian authorities did not stop at arresting Ramy and illegally and coercively deporting his French wife; the authorities have gone further, repeatedly extending his detention without providing any evidence of the charges against him. In a statement, Amnesty International considered Ramy Shaath to be “a prisoner of conscience, as his detention stems solely from the peaceful exercise of his right to freedom of expression and his right to participate in public affairs,” and called for his immediate release.

At a time when we are counting on our brethren in the Arab world, and at its heart the people of Egypt, to support our daily struggle against the Israeli colonial regime, and insisting on our choice of struggling against the enemy of our nation and rejecting any normalization with it, it is our right to ask about the remaining options for Palestinians today. Palestinian refugees, who are denied their right to return to their land, are also denied their basic and civil rights. Palestinians in the Gaza Strip have endured 12 years of siege in the largest open-air prison known to mankind, amidst official Arab silence. And now Palestinian Arabs are being tried for their nonviolent activism to advocate for their just cause, which we believe is the central cause of the entire Arab nation.

We repeat our call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release the human rights activist Ramy Shaath, and we call on all Palestinian, Arab and international organizations to show solidarity with Ramy’s just cause and also call for his release.

Signatures :

- Council of National and Islamic Forces in Palestine

- General Union of Palestinian Workers

- Palestinian General Federation of Trade Unions

- Palestinian Trade Union Coalition for BDS (PTUC-BDS)

- Palestinian NGO Network (PNGO)

- Palestinian National Institute for NGOs

- Federation of Indep. Trade Unions

- Global Palestine Right of Return Coalition

- Occupied Palestine and Syrian Golan Heights Initiative

- General Union of Palestinian Teachers

- Palestinian Federation of Unions of University Professors and Employees (PFUUPE)

- General Union of Palestinian Women

- General Union of Palestinian Writers

- Union of Palestinian Farmers

- Grassroots Palestinian Anti-Apartheid Wall Campaign - Stop the Wall

- Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI)

- Popular Struggle Coordination Committee (PSCC)

- Civic Coalition for the Defense of Palestinian Rights in Jerusalem

- Coalition for Jerusalem

- National Committee to Commemorate the Nakba

- Union of Public Employees in Palestine-Civil Sector

- General Union of Palestinian Peasants

- Union of Palestinian Charitable Organizations

- Union of Professional Associations

- Women Campaign to Boycott Israeli Products

- Palestinian Economic Monitor

- Union of Youth Activity Centers-Palestine Refugee Camps

- Agricultural Cooperatives Union

- National Committee for Grassroots Resistance

- Communication Workers’ Union- Palestine (CWU- PS)