Ahmed Samir Santawy, the latest victim of Egypt’s crackdown on academic liberty
He was summoned twice. The first time, he left the police station and returned home. The second time, he disappeared.
He is the latest among a long list of people like him to be arrested.
He is Ahmed Samir Santawy, an Egyptian human rights activist.
Returning home from Austria’s Central European University (CEU) where he’s also a masters student of sociology and social anthropology, Santawy was interrogated by Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution upon arrival, but allowed to leave afterwards.
While he was away in Dahab, a coastal town in South Sinai, law enforcement raided Santawy’s family’s home, confiscated home surveillance footage and requested his presence at Cairo’s Fifth Settlement Police Station on January 30.
He adhered to the summon and was told to come back in two days. But when he did so, he was never to be seen again. The date was February 1. The last time he communicated with anyone is presumed to be February 6, per his partner.
According to the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE), he is charged with “joining a terrorist group, spreading false news meant to undermine security and public order, and using a Facebook account for that purpose.” His lawyers and supporters are certain that these charges are false.
Since then, the 29-year-old’s family has demanded answers regarding his safety and further, for his release. Additionally, both the AFTE and Santawy’s university have pressured Egypt’s Ministry of Interior to release him, the former saying the arrest “is an instance of a systematic pattern of harassment and intimidation by the Egyptian authorities targeting researchers and scientific research.”
Noting the cases of researchers Patrick George Zaki, Walid Salem, and Giulio Regeni, the only one of these three cases to end in murder, the Egypt-based non-profit and independent legal firm stressed that Santawy’s arrest was only the latest incident in a string of apprehensions of academic researchers by the Egyptian government.
Despite lofty ambitions to make Egypt more competitive and transparent on the global stage, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has repressed freedoms of expression and thought in academia, keeping the country’s intellectual potential within his tight grip.
Amy Austin Holmes and Sahar Aziz for the Carnegie Endowment noted how while academia under former President Mohamed Morsi crept towards greater autonomy, that quickly changed under Sisi, who continues to outpace his predecessors in clamping down on intellectual liberty.
“Between 2013 and 2016, over 1100 students were arrested, 1000 were expelled or subjected to disciplinary actions, 65 were tried by military courts, and 21 students were extrajudicially killed,” they wrote.
Ahmed Samir Santawy is now one of those students. And his friends and family are doing all in their power to prevent him from drowning in the system and potentially never resurfacing.
“Having known Ahmed for 4 years, I know he deserves the love and solidarity that people showed today,” said his close friend Rawda, referring to a protest held in his honor on Friday in front of the Egyptian embassy in Vienna.
“He is someone who always fought against injustice, and was always there to offer help and support for those who needed it,” she added, mentioning his passion for women’s rights, a field he felt he could not openly pursue in his home country of Egypt. This compelled him to study abroad at Central European University.
While she said leaving home was difficult for him and that he would often reminisce about fond memories of Cairo at night or even spending time with friends at Al-Ahwa restaurant, at the end of the day, “he wanted to make a difference.”
Ahmed Samir Santawy’s work revolves around women’s rights in Egypt, specifically reproductive rights and the accessibility to safe and legal care. He is known at CEU to speak his mind and advocate for causes he cares about, Rawda further noting how she wasn’t surprised by the “great” turnout at the protest.
Tayla Myree, a friend and classmate of Santawy, said she was in shock when she first heard of his arrest. She had previously been unaware of academic repressions in Egypt.
“I had just spoken to Ahmed towards the end of December where we talked about how our breaks were going and how happy he was to be back in Egypt and enjoying the weather there. Next thing I knew, he was imprisoned and had these horrific false charges,” she said.
So, she decided to take action with what she had. As of noon on February 19, Myree’s minute-long call-to-action video has been viewed over 17,000 times on Instagram.
And she’s far from the only one doing groundwork to raise awareness for the 29-year-old’s predicament.
On an administrative level, Central European University has called on Egypt to release Santawy and is working with American and Austrian authorities to apply pressure.
As for the student body, they’ve assembled the Free Ahmed Samir Campaign, chaired by a committee of CEU students and Ahmed’s friends. So far, among many things, the campaign has:
- Co-organized the protest that took place in front of the Egyptian embassy with Amnesty International Austria
- Brought Santawy’s case to the attention of members of the European Parliament, EU High Representative of Foreign Affairs, and the DROI (EU Subcommittee on Human Rights)
3. Worked with several international NGOs (non-governmental organizations) in addition to Amnesty International
4. Created a Scholars At Risk-endorsed academic petition signed by over 250 academics and post-graduate students.
As the CEU community, global human rights organizations, and Ahmed’s friends and family rally themselves for his sake, Ahmed Samir Santawy remains in the custody of Egyptian law enforcement. So far, it’s been 19 days.
Yet, his supporters remain determined and hopeful.
Tayla Myree believes “No one deserves to be treated like he has, and it’s our jobs to speak up when injustices like these occur. All of us at CEU want him to be released and we’re doing everything we can to make sure he makes it home safely and can return to Austria to finish his masters.”
In a similar tone, Rawda expressed her determination to apply pressure until Santawy is free, but also delved into her concerns about his wellbeing.
“As strong and as willing we are to fight for him, we are all extremely scared for our friend and his safety. If there is anything I know about Ahmed after all these years, it’s that he is a spirit that roams the world freely and is not meant to be kept behind bars,” she said.
“This is about Ahmed, but this is also about the fight for freedom of expression and academic freedom. The Egyptian government can’t keep silencing us, and we won’t let Ahmed be another political prisoner forgotten in the endless cycle of arbitrary pre-trial detention that Egypt uses as retaliation against researchers and activists. We will keep fighting, until Ahmed is free.”
UPDATE (Tuesday, February 23, 2021) — The Free Ahmed Samir Campaign
Ahmed Samir Santawy was presented before the SSSP on February 23, charged with “funding a terrorist organization.” The National Security Agency claims to have evidence.
Since being transferred to the notorious Tora Liman Prison, Santawy said he has been placed in solitary confinement, lacking heat and winter clothes. Communication with his family has also been cutoff. Additionally, they have been relentless, yet unsuccessful in trying to send him money for food at the prison canteen, despite regulations allowing prisoners of at least 11 days to receive money and visits.
“Continuing investigations with Ahmed after renewing his detention without access to legal counsel, and adding a new charge based on secret NSA investigations points out to the fact that the charges are completely fabricated,” the campaign said.
“Furthermore, keeping him in such inhumane detention conditions shows that the Egyptian authorities are compromising Ahmed’s physical and mental health in a clear act of reprisal.”
The Tora Liman Prison is housed within the greater Tora Prison Complex located in southern Cairo. It is one of six detention facilities, one being Tora Maximum Security Prison or “the Scorpion,” notorious for imprisoning Egypt’s most dangerous criminals.
The greater complex itself, including Tora Liman, is known worldwide for its excessive torture, which Human Rights Watch says includes, “beating of inmates, confinement in their cells for months at a time, bans on visits by relatives and lawyers, a prohibition on all written materials, and interference in medical care.” The entire national prison complex has also been heavily criticized in recent weeks, signaling a pattern of “torture, cruel and inhuman conditions of detention” for Egyptian prisoners who are often detained for political reasons.
