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Open Letter to Secretary Kerry

The letter urges action on Egypt’s increased use of pretrial detention on political prisoners.

9/25/2015Letter

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In anticipation of Secretary of State John Kerry's bilateral dialogue with Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on the sidelines of the 70th Session of the UN General Assembly, Kerry Kennedy and Santiago Canton of Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights have directed an open letter to the Secretary requesting that the issue of remand be on the forefront of any conversation with our Egyptian counterparts. The number of Egyptian detainees in remand, or pretrial detention, has increased over 360% over previous years' estimates; remand has increasingly become a tool by which the Egyptian government constrains the activities of political prisoners. The practice has expanded in a manner that violates Egypt's constitutional and regional and international human rights legal obligations.

LETTER TO SECRETARY KERRY