CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt started trial proceedings on Tuesday against Hossam Bahgat, one of the country’s most prominent human rights advocates, for a tweet criticizing alleged electoral fraud.
Bahgat, director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), is already banned from travelling and his assets have been frozen due to another case in which he remains indicted.
Authorities have in recent years particularly targeted the group he founded.
Three EIPR staff members were jailed last year, sparking an international campaign that resulted in their release.
Another EIPR researcher, Patrick Zaki, remains in detention since February 2020 facing charges of “spreading false news” after he returned to Egypt for a visit from Italy, where he was studying at Bologna University.
In July, the U.S. State Department condemned Cairo for specifically indicting Bahgat saying dissidents “should not be targeted for expressing their views peacefully”.
Bahgat is accused of “insulting” Egypt’s electoral commission, after he alleged that incidents of electoral fraud and vote rigging took place during last year’s parliamentary elections.
Parliament is mostly comprised of loyalists of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi and is viewed by critics as a “rubber-stamp” body.
Bahgat is also being prosecuted for “spreading false news”, which can carry hefty fines and jail time.
“We will present evidence to the court of reports and information published by people involved in the elections,” to support his allegations, Hoda Nasralla, one of Baghat’s lawyers, told AFP.
Sisi, a former army chief, took power in 2014 and has launched a sweeping crackdown on dissent, with rights groups estimating that Egypt holds about 60,000 political prisoners.
Former U.S. president Donald Trump forged a particularly strong relationship with Sisi.