Letter concerning the ongoing mistreatment of Egyptian scholar and translator Kholoud Said

His Excellency Abdel Fattah al-Sisi

President, Arab Republic of Egypt

X: @alsisiofficial

 

Chancellor Mohamed Shawky Aiad

Office of the Public Prosecutor

X: @EgyptJustice

 

Prime Solicitor-General Khaled Diauddin

Supreme State Security Prosecution in the Arab Republic of Egypt

X: @egyptianPPO

 

Dr. Ahmed Abdalla Zayed Hegab

Director of Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA)

Secretariat@bibalex.org

 

Dear President al-Sisi, Chancellor Aiad, Prime Solicitor-General Diauddin, and Dr. Hegab,

 

We write to you on behalf of the Committee on Academic Freedom of the Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA) to express our deep concern regarding researcher and translator Kholoud Said’s continued unjust treatment by Egyptian authorities. Said was the head of the Language Control Section of Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA)’s publishing department ­­­— a position she had held since December 2008 — when she was arbitrarily arrested on 12 April 2020 by the National Security Agency. Although she was released from detention on 2 June 2022, she continues to face a variety of state-imposed legal obstacles and has not been allowed to resume her work at the BA.

 

Founded in 1966, MESA promotes scholarship and teaching on the Middle East and North Africa. As the preeminent organization in the field, the Association publishes the prestigious International Journal of Middle East Studies and has nearly 2,800 members worldwide.  Our organization is committed to ensuring academic freedom and freedom of expression both within the Middle East and in connection with the study of the region in North America.

 

Kholoud Said spent more than two years in arbitrary pretrial detention in conjunction with Case 558/2020.  She was accused of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news, allegations that have no basis in fact. She was also charged with identical accusations in another case that authorities leveled against her (Case 1017/2020). We wrote to you about Said’s situation on 6 May 2021 and on 28 May 2020 and called for her release. While she has been out of prison since June 2022, the cases against her have not been closed. Thus, her continued freedom remains contingent upon the holding of a trial to investigate the substantive charges leveled against her.

 

It is nearly three years since her release but the BA’s administration has repeatedly refused to reinstate her. We have strong reasons to believe that the BA’s refusal owes to pressure from state security agencies. After exhausting all informal channels with the BA, Said decided to sue her employer before the administrative court, demanding to be permitted to return to her job (Case number 16081-19610, year 77 administrative court of Alexandria). On 26 November 2024, the administrative court put Said’s case to sue on hold until the two criminal cases pending against her have been adjudicated. In response, Said decided to take the case to appeal (25611 year 71 before the Supreme Administrative Court). The appeal is scheduled for a hearing on 26 April 2025.

 

The refusal to reinstate Said in her work at the BA for almost three years is a continuation of her punishment and a violation of her rights to liberty, free speech and a fair trial. Global human rights observers affirm that pretrial detention followed by release with pending charges has been used by Egyptian authorities as part of a practice to keep defendants in a state of limbo and continuing insecurity.  When defendants are released with unresolved charges, the threat of a trial (that may never take place) silences and punishes them indefinitely. In Said’s case, pending charges have kept her from returning to her work. 

 

We therefore call upon your government to have the charges against Kholoud Said dismissed and have her reinstated in her job at the BA without further delay. We urge you to respect and uphold the constitutional rights of citizens and researchers in Egypt to freedom of speech and academic freedom without fear of arbitrary punishment.  Finally, we again call upon you in the strongest terms to release all academics, scholars and translators who remain in detention, end travel bans for scholars and lift the myriad security restrictions on universities and their faculties.  All necessary measures should be taken to put an end to the ongoing attacks on academic freedom and freedom of speech, the repeated violations of due process, and the abuses of the independence of the judiciary in Egypt.

 

We look forward to your response.

 

Sincerely,

 

Aslı Ü. Bâli 

MESA President

Professor, Yale Law School

 

Laurie A. Brand
Chair, Committee on Academic Freedom
Professor Emerita, University of Southern California

 

 

Cc:

 

Dr. Hanafi Gebali, Speaker, Egyptian Parliament

 

Motaz Zahran, Ambassador, Embassy of Egypt, Washington, D.C.

 

Mohamed Fathi Ahmed Edrees, Permanent Representative of Egypt to the UN

 

Amb. Moushira Khattab, President, National Council for Human Rights, Cairo, Egypt

 

Mohamad Anwar El-Sadat, President, Reform and Development Party, Egypt 

 

Volker Türk, UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

 

The Honorable Mary Lawlor, UN Special Rapporteur on the Situation of Human Rights Defenders

 

Mounir Satouri, Chair of the European Parliament Subcommittee on Human Rights

 

Viktor Almqvist, Press Officer for the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the European Parliament

 

Michael O'Flaherty, Council of Europe Commissioner for Human Rights

 

Irene Khan, UN Special Rapporteur on the Promotion and Protection of the Right to Freedom of Opinion and Expression

 

Timothy A. Lenderking, Acting Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Department of State, United States Government