The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) hosted today (October 7) an open discussion between Michael Posner, the US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor, and a number of human rights defenders and representatives from various human rights organizations. The meeting was also attended by a delegation from the American Embassy in Cairo, headed by Ambassador Margret Scobey and a number of Posner’s and Scobey’s colleagues.
The open discussion was preceded by a 45-minute meeting between Posner and CIHRS Director Bahey El Din Hassan, who are scheduled to meet again for breakfast on Friday morning.
The discussion, which lasted around 100 minutes, covered the following topics:
– Expectations regarding the coming parliamentary elections, its integrity, and obstacles facing civil society organizations monitoring elections;
– Restrictions on the right to form associations, NGO activities, the right to protest and freedom of assembly;
– The recent development regarding freedom of press and media;
– Impediments to democratization;
– The situation of prisons, torture, administrative detainees, and the application of the Emergency law;
– Sectarian tensions;
– The situation of Women’s; and
– Guantanamo Detention Centre
The event was attended by:
– Ahmed Samih – Andalous Institute for Tolerance and Anti-violence Studies;
– Magdy Abd ElHameed – Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement;
– Mohamed Zaree– The Human Rights Association for the Assistance of Prisoners & Arab Penal Reform Organization;
– Mozn Hassan – Nazra for Feminist Studies;
– Hisham Kassem – Publisher and the ex-chair for Egyptian Organization for Human Rights
– Musaad Abu Fagr – Sinai Bedouin human rights defender and blogger.
– Sally Sami – Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
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