{"id":18659,"date":"2024-03-14T16:10:40","date_gmt":"2024-03-14T14:10:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=18659"},"modified":"2026-10-09T02:32:04","modified_gmt":"2026-10-09T00:32:04","slug":"newsletter-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/newsletter-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Human Rights Watch and Sinai Foundation: Doubts over Amnesty Deals Freeing ISIS Militants"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a report titled “‘Questionable’ Amnesty Deals for ISIS Members in Sinai<\/a>“, Human Rights Watch, in a joint report with the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, raised doubts that the Egyptian authorities may have concluded deals to pardon some suspected members of the Islamic State group, known as “ISIS”, in North Sinai, Egypt, without announcing the criteria they adopted.<\/p>\n

The report pointed out that the way the Egyptian authorities released some defendants belonging to the terrorist group is opaque, especially as they committed a number of crimes, including the mass killing of civilians.<\/p>\n

According to the report, evidence gathered by the two organisations and public statements by officials indicate that the authorities granted some members of ISIS’s “Sinai Province” amnesty in exchange for laying down their weapons and surrendering. However, the authorities have not clarified whether they have a plan to prosecute those suspected of committing serious abuses, such as the mass killing of civilians and extrajudicial executions.<\/p>\n

Ahmed Salem, executive director of the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, said: “Amnesty for members of armed groups who lay down their weapons should never include those who intentionally committed serious crimes such as targeting or deliberately killing civilians. The Egyptian authorities must develop a national strategy for prosecuting Sinai Province members, ensuring that those directly responsible for serious crimes do not go unpunished”.<\/p>\n

Since 2020, the Egyptian authorities have encouraged Sinai Province members to surrender as part of security initiatives facilitated by local tribal leaders in North Sinai.<\/p>\n

Sinai Province is a relatively small group that has targeted the Egyptian army, other government forces and civilians since 2013. The group pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014. The armed conflict gradually subsided as Sinai Province lost most of its strongholds by 2020, and it appears to have been almost completely eliminated by the end of 2022, according to media reports, residents’ accounts and official statements. But the army, the police, militias allied with the army and Sinai Province committed serious violations of international humanitarian law that in many cases may amount to war crimes.<\/p>\n

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Detention of “Right of Return” Protesters Renewed<\/h3>\n

The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, a non-governmental civil organisation, announced in a statement the continued detention of 31 people from Sinai in military case No. 80 of 2023.<\/p>\n

The foundation said in its statement that the Ismailia Military Court decided on Monday to renew the detention of a number of tribesmen arrested after they demonstrated demanding the right to return to their lands in Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid, from which they were previously displaced within Sinai, foremost among them Sheikh Saber El-Sayyah, one of Sinai’s most prominent figures. Last October, hundreds of North Sinai residents from the Rumailat and Sawarka tribes gathered near the villages of “El-Husseinat” and “El-Mahdiya”, close to the Egyptian border city of Rafah, and the village of “El-Zawara’a” near the city of Sheikh Zuweid, in north-eastern Sinai, demonstrating to demand their right to return to the lands from which they were forcibly displaced under the pretext of fighting terrorism. This was in a wave of forced displacement that began in earnest in 2013 and continued until mid-2016, in addition to eight villages around Sheikh Zuweid (with a population of more than 59,000, according to official 2017 statistics). These demonstrations resulted in the arrest of a number of them, foremost among them Sheikh El-Sayyah. The next day, dozens of participants were arrested by forces at the “El-Shallaq” checkpoint near the entrance to Sheikh Zuweid, which fuelled the anger of tribesmen, while rights organisations condemned the incident.<\/p>\n

To learn more, you can read our report on the case, titled: Sinai: Exile or Detention<\/a><\/p>\n

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A New European Aid Package of About EUR 7.4 Billion<\/h3>\n

The British Financial Times revealed yesterday, Wednesday, an expected visit to Cairo next Sunday by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen, accompanied by the prime ministers of Greece, Italy and Belgium, to complete talks and announce a formal agreement on providing a new aid package to Cairo.<\/p>\n

The newspaper said the aid package, aimed at supporting the economy and boosting dollar liquidity, will be worth EUR 7.4 billion, adding that this comes amid fears that the conflicts in Gaza and Sudan will worsen the country’s financial problems and increase migration pressure on Europe. It explained that the package will take the form of grants and loans until the end of 2027, and that about EUR 1 billion in emergency financial aid could be paid immediately.<\/p>\n

The Financial Times added that the package includes EUR 4 billion linked to reforms under the expanded programme being discussed with the International Monetary Fund, which needs the approval of EU member states. The Fund had agreed last week to increase the loan from three to eight billion dollars.<\/p>\n

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USD 1 Million from UNICEF to Support Palestinian Children in Egypt<\/h3>\n

Social Solidarity Minister Nevine El-Kabbag said in a report that Cairo has continued to provide relief services to Palestinians, both in Egypt and in Gaza, for five months since the Strip came under Israeli occupation bombardment, explaining Cairo’s keenness on the social and relief aid provided by all land, air and sea routes.<\/p>\n

The minister added that this goes in parallel with the medical services provided by the Ministry of Health and Population, in addition to the services provided to Sudanese after what they suffered as a result of the internal war that broke out last year between the warring parties in Sudan. She explained that relief services are provided by the Egyptian Red Crescent, whether from its headquarters or through its branches across the country, especially the branches in the Canal region and its surroundings, in addition to volunteers, noting that the ministry provides its services through 26 fully equipped relief centres.<\/p>\n

The UN Children’s Fund, UNICEF, announced the signing of a USD 1 million agreement with the Egyptian Red Crescent and a cooperation agreement with the Ministry of Social Solidarity to expand the case management programme for children affected by armed conflict, especially the psychosocial support provided to Palestinian children living in Egypt and those arriving with their families, whether wounded and injured or stranded in Egypt.<\/p>\n

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Belgium Intends to Intervene in the “Genocide” Case Against the Occupation<\/h3>\n

Belgium announced that it will intervene in the case brought by South Africa against Israel before the International Court of Justice, accusing it of committing “genocide” in the Gaza Strip.<\/p>\n

Sources at the Belgian Foreign Ministry indicated that Brussels decided to submit its interpretation of Article 2 of the 1948 UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, which defines the crime of genocide.<\/p>\n

The sources quoted Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib as saying that on 7 February, the International Court of Justice sent a letter to the states parties to the 1948 Convention, including Belgium, indicating the possibility of interpreting the Convention in the context of this case.<\/p>\n

The minister added that Belgium wishes to take part in this matter and present its interpretation of Article 2 of the Convention.<\/p>\n

She stressed that “this is not about taking sides for or against one party or the other. It is about strengthening the universality of the international conventions to which states are parties”.<\/p>\n

The sources indicated that the content of the Belgian interpretation and the date of its submission have not yet been determined, “and the process may take months”.<\/p>\n

Article 63 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice gives states the right to intervene when it comes to interpreting conventions to which they are parties, even if they are not parties to the dispute.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

HRW and the Sinai Foundation question opaque amnesty deals for ISIS members in North Sinai, as Sinai protesters demanding the right of return remain jailed.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":8232,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[412],"tags":[20048,20053,20051,18524,20054,20049,20050,20046,20047,20052],"kateb":[710],"class_list":["post-18659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-politics-en","tag-amnesty-deals-sinai","tag-belgium-icj-intervention","tag-eu-aid-package-egypt","tag-human-rights-watch-egypt","tag-north-sinai-displacement","tag-right-of-return-protests-sinai","tag-sheikh-saber-el-sayyah","tag-sinai-foundation-for-human-rights","tag-sinai-province-isis","tag-unicef-palestinian-children-egypt","kateb-zawia3-com"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/\u0632\u0627\u0648\u064a\u0629-\u062b\u0627\u0644\u062b\u0629-\u0627\u0644\u0645\u0648\u0642\u0639-\u0627\u0644\u0625\u0644\u0643\u062a\u0631\u0648\u0646\u064a.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18659"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18660,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18659\/revisions\/18660"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18659"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=18659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}