Thread by @monaeltahawy

When I was a journalist in #Egypt, I interviewed @BaheyHassan dozens of times. He represents the integrity and courage of human rights defenders. And this farcical trial and outrageous sentence represent the fascism and depravity of the Sisi regime. amnesty.org/en/latest/news…

A “terrorism” court in #Cairo sentenced exiled Bahey el-Din Hassan, a prominent human rights defender and one of the founders of the human rights movement in #Egypt, to 15 years in prison on fabricated charges related to “insulting the judiciary” and “disseminating false news”

“#Egypt continues to be an open-air prison for those human rights defenders who are not already behind bars or in forced exile, as authorities slap bogus state security charges on anyone who dares to criticize them or their draconian laws...” @amnesty

When he was the head of the #Egyptian Organization for Human Rights and director of the #Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, @BaheyHassan was always one of the first people I would call for comment and explanation on the most pressing human rights issues.

All solidarity

“The evidence used to convict Bahey el-Din Hassan was tweets about the dire human rights situation in #Egypt &about his participation in the UN Human Rights Council, where he called for justice for Giulio Regeni, an Italian student who was forcibly disappeared &unlawfully killed”