Jennafer T.
Amina J.
Christopher N.
Issue: Police Brutality/Torture in Egypt
Defender: Hafez Al Sayed Seada
Universal declaration of human rights violated: Articles 5 & 19
Despite efforts of defenders, who have been inspired to bring about change to severely unjust situations, the violations of human rights will never cease to exist simply people will refuse to come to terms with what the rest of society deems as “the moral thing to do.” Egypt has had a serious issue with police brutality and torture which violates Article 5 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights which states "No one shall be put through torture, or any other treatment or punishment that is cruel, or makes him or her feel less than human." Some leaders of countries feel that citizens should not have the right to speak out against what they think is unjust or unfair which is a violation of Article 19 in the UDHR which declares that "you have the right to tell people how you feel about things without being told that you have to keep quiet." The issue of police brutality/torture in Egypt has become a worldwide attention grabber as the citizen’s fight for democracy against the will of the government. There are many risks to speaking out against this issue, which commonly results in harassment by government and law enforcement.
There are people out there who refuse to sit back and continue to watch this inhumanity continue, some who have gone through it themselves and some who simply want to help make a difference. However defender Hafez Al Sayed Seada has become devoted to ending police brutality in his home country of Egypt after his near death experience with police. He spoke out against the government and promoted the ideals of democracy which was and remains highly intolerable in Egypt. Seada was arrested and held in the custody of the police for seven months, being hospitalized in between from police abuse. This horrible incident was the turning point for him. He decided to join organizations that helped fellow Egyptian citizens who go through similar situations find relief. This job is not an easy one considering that the opposing force is a huge one: the Egyptian government and its former leader, Hosni Mubarak. Defenders know the risk they take, but everyday they put themselves on the line because they do not want to be silenced and they understand that human rights must be a given.