Background:
The interview with Hussām Bahjat, a journalist and a human rights activist, and Yārā Sallām, a feminist and an activist, the founders of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights ( EIPR, founded in 2002) revolves around the role of their organization in the field of human rights and the scope of their work. They discuss their areas of interest and the difference between their human rights organization and other rights organizations.
Side A:
Hussām Bahjat starts off by pointing out that they have a separate, permanent division for freedom of religion unlike the rest of other human rights organizations in Egypt; they consider this as their contribution. They have full time researcher, a lawyer, and part time assistant to reach victims. The focus of the organization is on issues regarding laws and practices that might encourage discrimination on the basis of religion or belief by security agencies based on belief or religion or sectarian strife. They follow up on these issues through legal systemic documentation and then analyze and observe the persecution. They also create quarterly reports (without in depth analysis) and other reports that are published in Arabic and English as well as legal work, strategies, and representation for Bahaʾīs, converts, although Bahjat clarified that they need to do more in depth work regarding sectarianism and the proposed remedies.
They engage with UN mechanisms for religious freedom. Their source of income is foreign funding from US private progressive foundations rather than governments. He stressed on the matter that funders might fundamentally disagree with them.
Sharīʿa is not the source of problems regarding religious freedom in Egypt but the way it is implemented, Bahjat says. Terrorism law, ending state of emergency law, and tension between Muslims and Christians and its influence on the society, increases the ideas of sectarianism, how do people define themselves as Muslims and Christians and not Egyptians? According to Bahjat, like any form of prejudice, sectarianism affects most aspects of our lives.
When one of the journalists asked whether she could visit the place where a conflict took place, Yārā Sallām mentioned that it depends on the conflict and how the things might escalate. They would go with the victims or members of the church or the government. Going on a field of mission is not that feasible due to the limit in the number of people working with them. They go when there are important and a lot of information to be documented.
Side B:
Back to discussing sectarian strife, it is not apparent to everyone. There are different cases that could include violence. To prevent sectarian violence, there are people whom they cannot rely on as a source of information as Maurice Ṣādiq who is a Coptic lawyer and activist that promotes anti Islam videos. Others include Najīb Jibrāīl founder of the Egyptian Union for Human Rights Organizations.
Bahjat adds that violations are increasing but opposition is becoming greater. Political prisoners, women's rights, child rights show no improvement. When Bahjat was asked regarding the media role in covering the issue, he mentioned that there is more attention from the media and that independent newspapers report such matters, but their work and publications are started to get covered by even state-led media, even though they work on problems that are considered taboos in the society as sexual rights and HIV. They have good relations with journalists working on human rights and the role of civil society organizations, however; sometimes there are some cases that don't receive the same attention as others.
On being attacked by the media, Bahjat and Sallām mentioned that it is becoming less because their credibility is increasing. A major difference between them and other organizations is that they refuse funds from the US government and USAID; they might not be as popular as other organizations due to lack of resources and due to the fact that their work is more problematic. Networking, part of regional networks with organizations working on HIV, in North Africa, no bilateral ties with Lebanon or Jordan,
At the end they discussed the issue of interns and that they receive large numbers of applications, but they pick the most qualified to research and write. They are trying to get more Egyptian interns.
Raḍwā ʿAdawī’s Comments:
Yārā Sallām was arrested in 2014 in a demonstration formed against the anti-protest law. She was sentenced for 2 years, but she was later released in 2015 along with another famously known activist Sanāʾ Sayf.
Hussām Bahjat was arrested in 2015 after the military intelligence wanted to question him on the articles he wrote on the military trials. He was released after 4 days, however it wasn't known whether the charges, that could have included being imprisoned or paying a fine, were still pending or not. “The arrest of Hussām Bahjat today is yet another nail in the coffin for freedom of expression in Egypt." said Philip Luther, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International.( November 8, 2015 Amnesty.org)
