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Egypt arrests executive director of prominent rights group in latest crackdown

November 20, 2020 at 8:22 am

Gasser Abdel Razek [EIPR/Twitter]

A prominent Egyptian rights group said security agents arrested its executive director on Thursday, days after two other senior members were detained under charges including joining a terrorist group, Reuters reports.

“e was detained by security forces from his home in Maadi and taken to an unknown location,” the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) tweeted late on Thursday.

The arrests come after senior diplomats visited EIPR for a briefing on the human rights situation on Nov. 3.

National Security service agents arrested Karim Ennarah, EIPR’s criminal justice unit director, early on Wednesday afternoon while he was on holiday in the Red Sea resort of Dahab and took him to an unknown location, the group said.

Ennarah was ordered to be detained for 15 days pending investigations, EIPR said on Twitter.

Another member of staff, administrative manager Mohamed Basheer, has been ordered detained for 15 days on charges of joining a terrorist group, spreading false information and funding terrorism after being arrested at his home in the early hours of Sunday, according to the group.

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