Christian activist jailed in Egypt as crackdown against human rights defenders continues

A crackdown against human rights defenders in Egypt leads to the arrest of a Coptic human rights activist based on fabricated charges, according to human rights groups.

The 26-year-old director of the Minority and Religious Groups Department at the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedom (ECRF), Mina Thabet, has been arrested without warrant at 3 a.m. on May 13 in his Dar Al-Salam apartment by armed plain-clothes security officers.

According to Morning Star News, Thabet has 10 charges against him under anti-terrorism law, including threats of violence to prevent the president from performing his duties, belonging to a terrorist or banned group, inciting terrorist act using the internet, inciting protests, spreading false information detrimental to the country's reputation and peace and order, and harming public interest and owning documents that would incite citizens to overthrow the government.

"The charges are completely false and trumped up. There is no evidence in the case against Mina," Mohammed El-Messiry, a researcher at Amnesty International, told Morning Star News.

El-Messiry described the evidence used against Thabet as "ridiculous."

Amnesty International also released a statement urging, "He must be released immediately and unconditionally with all charges against him dropped."

Before he was arrested, Thabet was able to inform Morning Star News that the National Security Agency (NSA) had already threatened him at least three times over the previous months. Thabet's work involved documenting persecution of religious minorities in Egypt, especially among the Coptic Christians, as well as the government's disregard for these issues.

"He has been one of the pillars [of human rights in Egypt]," said El-Messiry. "[His arrest] will definitely affect religious minorities in the country."

Thabet's arrest is part of the Egyptian government's crackdown against human rights activists and political dissenters in the country. NSA has reportedly arrested 250 activists, including a human rights lawyer and dissident journalists, and 238 dissidents. This comes while the government fights against a local opposition group and the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL, also known as ISIS) terrorist group.

"While Egypt is portraying to the world that they are fighting terror and fighting terrorism...They are not targeting the right people. They are just using counter-terrorism to silence any kind of dissent," El-Messiry decried.