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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Dr. Ahmed Al Tohamy Abdel-Hay Arrested for Expressing Thoughts About the Current Administration

December 13, 2020

December 14, 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 Dr. Ahmed Al Tohamy Abdel-Hay, Assistant Professor of Political Science at the Faculty of Economic Studies and Political Science at Alexandria University who stands accused of joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and statements, and misusing social media. He was arrested on June 3 and held incommunicado for almost a month before being brought to the Supreme State Security Prosecution and charged with these offenses.

We are extremely disturbed both by these charges, which are regularly used to unjustly criminalize free expression, and by the nature of his ongoing detention, during which he has not had access to an attorney and for the first four months of which he was not allowed to see his family. His pretrial detention is characterized as “provisional”, but in practice it has become “indefinite”, as it continues to be renewed.

We understand that questions during his interrogation have focused on a lawsuit currently being litigated in the United States, in which Muhammad Sultan, an Egyptian-American, is suing former interim Prime Minister Hazem Abdel Aziz El Beblawi for abuses the former suffered while jailed in Egypt during the years 2013-2014.

No one should be jailed or prosecuted for the free expression of their beliefs or opinions, and no one should be charged with a crime because of an alleged connection to a lawsuit that seeks accountability for your government’s use of torture and other forms of ill-treatment of prisoners. We are concerned that Dr. Abdel-Hey, who published a book on youth activism in Egypt in 2016, may also be facing these charges because of his political science scholarship.

We urge you have charges dropped against Dr. Ahmed Al Tohamy Abdel-Hay, and that he be released immediately and unconditionally and allowed to resume his important academic work without further interference.

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

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

cc:
Chancellor Hamada El-Sawy
Office of the Public Prosecutor
Fax: 202 2577 4716

Prime Solicitor-General Khaled Diauddin
Supreme State Security Prosecution in the Arab Republic of Egypt
Fax: +202 2638 1956

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
Twitter: @MfaEgypt

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 Tagged With: Abdel-Hay, Ahmed Al Tohamy Abdel-Hay, Alexandria University, Egypt, Professor

Who We Are

Co-chairs

Joel L. Lebowitz, Rutgers University

Paul H. Plotz, M.D., Washington, DC

Walter Reich, George Washington University

Eugene Chudnovsky, Lehman College

Alexander Greer, Brooklyn College

Vice-chairs

Astronomy – Arno Penzias, New Enterprises Associates*

Biology – Max E. Gottesman, Columbia University

Chemistry – Zafra Lerman, MIMSAD Inc.

Computer Science – Rachelle Heller, The George Washington University

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

Engineering – Philip Sarachik, NYU Polytechnic School of Engineering

Mathematics – Simon Levin, Princeton University

Medical Sciences – J. Joseph Blum, Duke University

Honorary Board Members

Nancy Andrews, Duke University

David Baltimore, California Institute of Technology*

Alan J. Bard, University of Texas

Jacob Bigeleisen (deceased), SUNY, Stony Brook

Raoul Bott (deceased), Harvard University

Owen Chamberlain (deceased), University of California, Berkeley

Stanley Deser, Brandeis University

Edward Gerjuoy, University of Pittsburg

David Gross, (2004 Nobel Prize in Physics), Kavil Institute for Theoretical Physics, University of California, Santa Barbara*

Pierre Hohenberg (deceased), New York University

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

James Langer, University of California, Santa Barbara

Peter Lax, New York University

Louis Nirenberg, New York University

Marshall Nirenberg (deceased), National Institutes of Health*

Honorary Board Members

John C. Polanyi, University of Toronto*

Stuart Rice, University of Chicago

Sir Richard J. Roberts, (1993 Nobel Prize in Physiology & Medicine), New England Biolabs*

Myriam Sarachick, City College of New York

Harold Scheraga, Cornell University

Sylvan Schweber (deceased), Brandeis University

Maxine Singer, Carnegie Institution of Washington

Alfred I. Tauber, Boston University

Steven Weinberg, University of Texas, Austin*

Myrna Weissman, Columbia University

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

* Nobel laureate

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