Mohammed Adel (Arabic: محمد عادل, Egyptian Arabic: [mæˈħæmːæd ˈʕæːdel]; born August 8, 1988)[1] is an Egyptian political activist and a founder of the April 6 Youth Movement in Egypt. He has been active with the Kefaya movement since 2005 and is one of activists who called for a general strike on April 6, 2008. In 2009, Mohammed Adel became the April 6 movement's media spokesman.[2] Between the time of the 2008 strike in Mahalla al-Kubra and the onset of the 2011 Egyptian Revolution, Mohemmad Adel enrolled in a training program directed by the Center for Non-Violent Action and Strategies, an entity founded by the Serbian pro-democracy youth movement Otpor!.[3]
2013 revolutionary activism
[edit]Mohammed Adel was tried by a Cairo misdemeanor court on charges of violating a controversial protest law and for allegedly assaulting police officers.[4] On December 22, the court declared him to be guilty of violating the protest law, sentencing him and two other defendants, Ahmed Maher and Ahmed Douma, to three years of hard labor in prison, a requirement to pay a fine of LE50,000, and subjection to a three-year period of surveillance upon release from jail.[5][6] Various Egyptian and international human rights organizations have condemned the trial as a symptom of a growing crackdown on pro-democracy and civil society activism; during the course of the trial, Amnesty International stated that the charges against Adel and other defendants "may arise solely from their opposition activism".[7] Emad Hamdi, a member of the Egyptian Popular Current, condemned the verdict against Mohammed Adel, unfavorably juxtaposing the acquittals and light sentences given to Mubarak-era criminals with those being issued against revolutionary and democratic activists.[5]
In the initial stages of the trial, Mohammed Adel was being tried in absentia. However, shortly before the verdict was announced, he was forcibly seized by police during the course of a raid on the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights.[8] Police smashed some computers while confiscating other computers, electronic equipment, and documents. They also assaulted and detained a number of individuals present at the scene.[8][9]
Hamdeen Sabahi has censured the court conviction sentencing Ahmed Maher, Mohamed Adel, and Ahmed Douma to three years in prison and a fine of LE50,000 and maintains that Interim President Adly Mansour should issue these and other detained individuals a pardon.[10] The Constitution Party has expressed solidarity with the detainees and their families and requested that the interim President Adly Mansour issue a pardon to Ahmed Maher, Mohammed Adel, and Ahmed Douma, as well as to Loay Abdel Rahman, Omar Hussein, Islam Ahmed, and Nasser Ibrahim.[11]
Adel is strongly against the currently president Sisi. He describes his government as it injustice and bloody. Adel always calls for freedom for all detainees and prisoners activists.
Adel now struggles against the decision of selling the two islands "Tiran and Sanafir" to the Saudi kingdom.
See also
[edit]- Ahmed Maher
- Ahmed Douma
- Alaa Abd El-Fattah
- Road of the Revolution Front
- April 6 Youth Movement
- Kefaya
References
[edit]- ^ FBBI, personal data Archived 2014-01-06 at the Wayback Machine
- ^ "In Egypt, April 6 Movement Marks Anniversary". 6 April 2011. Retrieved 11 December 2013.
- ^ Gelvin, James (2012). The Arab Uprisings: What Everyone Needs to Know. New York: Oxford University Press. p. 54. ISBN 978-0-19-989177-1.
- ^ "Egypt court postpones Douma, Adel, Maher trial to 22 December". Ahram Online. 8 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Egypt's Maher, Adel and Douma sentenced to 3 years in jail". Ahram Online. 22 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ "Three core, secular members of 2011 Arab Spring movement jailed in Egypt". 22 December 2013. Retrieved 22 December 2013.
- ^ "Verdict On Egyptian Pro-Democracy Activists Postponed". Haberler.com. 9 December 2013. Retrieved 15 December 2013.
- ^ a b "Police storm Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights, arrest April 6 activist". Ahram Online. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "Raid on Egyptian rights group widely condemned". Ahram Online. 19 December 2013. Retrieved 19 December 2013.
- ^ "Presidential candidate demands release of 'revolution activists'". Ahram Online. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
- ^ "Constitution Party requests President Mansour to pardon arrested activists". Egypt Independent. 7 April 2014. Retrieved 7 April 2014.
External links
[edit]- 6 April Youth Movement official site (Arabic)