As a university committed to academic and political freedom, dignity and human rights, Central European University (CEU) raises the alarm about the grave injustice being committed against our student Ahmed Samir Santawy. The CEU Senate urges Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release Ahmed and allow him to resume his studies in Vienna.
The March 14 and May 9 postponements of Ahmed’s trials were inhumane and only prolonged an ongoing travesty of justice, in which false hope is provided only to be taken away. His upcoming June 6 trial needs to put an end to his senseless imprisonment and the suffering he and his loved ones have endured since 1 February 2021.
Jailed for exercising his freedom of opinion and expression as a researcher and as a private citizen, Ahmed Samir Santawy is a prisoner of conscience. As the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has found, Ahmed has been detained for more than a year arbitrarily and in contravention of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, merely for exercising his freedom of opinion and expression as a researcher and as a private citizen.
We call upon all who value freedom and human dignity to demand Ahmed’s immediate and unconditional release.
