Committee of Concerned Scientists

An international non-profit organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars dedicated to protecting the human rights and scientific freedom of our colleagues around the world.

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Mustafa Ali Hassanien, Student at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York, Arrested in Egypt, Accused of Membership in Terrorist Organization, Spreading False News and Disturbing Public Security.

November 9, 2020

November 10, 2020

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi
Office of the President
Al Ittihadia Palace
Cairo, Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: +202 2391 1441
Email: p.spokesman@op.gov.eg
Twitter: @AlsisiOfficial

Your Excellency:

The Committee of Concerned Scientists is an independent organization of scientists, physicians, engineers and scholars devoted to the protection and advancement of human rights and scientific freedom for colleagues all over the world.

We write to express our concern for Mustafa Ali Hassanien, a young film-maker and Cinema Studies student at the College of Staten Island, City University of New York. He was arrested on May 14, 2020, and remains in pre-trial detention at Tora Prison, facing accusations such as “spreading false news,” “disturbing public security,” and “belonging to a terrorist organization” which appear to be based on his expression of opinions about your government. Such expressions are protected fundamental human rights and should never be criminalized. He has yet to be formally charged, while his continued detention has been renewed at least seven times.

We are especially concerned as another filmmaker died earlier this year in your government’s custody after two years of detention without trial, and as health risks for incarcerated populations continue to rise due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic.

We write to urge you ensure that Mustafa Ali Hassanien is released immediately and unconditionally. The right to freedom of expression is protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), to which Egypt has been a state party since 1982. As a result, your government is obligated to protect, not punish, the nonviolent exercise of free expression. We urge you to respect and protect the rights of Mustafa Ali Hassanien and see to it that he is freed at once.

Thank you for your attention to this most serious matter, and we look forward to receiving your response.

Sincerely,
Joel L. Lebowitz, Paul H. Plotz, Walter Reich, Eugene M. Chudnovsky, Alexander Greer
Co-Chairs, Committee of Concerned Scientists

cc:
Dr. William J. Fritz
President
President’s Office
The City University of New York
College of Staten Island
Building 1A, Room 404
2800 Victory Boulevard
Staten Island, NY 10314
Fax: 718-982-2404
Phone: 718-982-2400
Email: president@csi.cuny.edu

Ahmed Ihab Gamal-Eldin
Deputy Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Human Rights
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Corniche el-Nile, Cairo, Egypt
Fax: +202 2574 9713
Email: contact.us@mfa.gov.eg

Ambassador Yasser Reda
Embassy of Egypt
3521 International Court, NW
Washington, DC 20008
Fax: 202 244 4319 or 202 244 5131
Phone: 202 895 5400
Email: embassy@egyptembassy.net

Filed Under: CCS Cases, Egypt, Highlights Tagged With: College of Staten Island, CUNY, Hassanien, Mustafa Ali Hassanien, student, Tora Prison

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Computer Science – Jack Minker, University of Maryland, College Park

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

Myles Axton, Chief Editor, Genetics and Genomics Next

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

David Gross, University of California, Santa Barbara*

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Giorgio Parisi, Roma I University La Sapienza

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, New England Biolabs*

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

Former Honorary Board Members

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deseased) Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser (deceased), Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy (deceased), University of Pittsburgh

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

Walter Kohn (deceased), University of California, Santa Barbara*

Louis Nirenberg (deceased), New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Myriam Sarachick (deceased), City College of New York

Harold Scheraga (deceased), Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Steven Weinberg (deceased), University of Texas, Austin*

Rosalyn S. Yalow (deceased), Mount Sinai School of Medicine*

* Nobel laureate

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