The International Coalition for Filmmakers at Risk is asking for the “immediate and unconditional” launch of Egyptian director and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei who’s being held behind bars in Cairo reportedly on trumped up costs of “deliberately spreading false news,” based mostly on posts on his social media accounts.
Omar Salah Marei, 35 – who is thought in Egypt‘s movie group for a number of shorts that mix humor with sharp social and political commentary – was arrested on the night of Might 11 in his Cairo appartment the place, in line with ICFR, plainclothes safety officers “broke down the door, seized four laptops, two phones, cash, and scripts for future projects, and took Omar to an undisclosed location,” and not using a warrant.
“For six days, no authority acknowledged holding him, and he had no contact with his family or his lawyer,” ICFR mentioned in an announcement.
Salah Marei then resurfaced on Might 16 earlier than Egypt’s Supreme State Safety Prosecution, which is “the most serious prosecutorial track in the country,” in line with ICFR. His lawyer, who’s outstanding human rights lawyer Khaled Ali, confirmed to ICFR that Salah Marei has now been submitted by Egypt’s authorities to fifteen days of pretrial detention, pending investigation. The cost: “deliberately spreading false news, based on posts on his social media accounts,” ICFR mentioned.
The subsequent judicial listening to, to be held on Might 25, will decide whether or not Omar Salah Marei’s pretrial incarceration is prolonged. Egyptian authorities couldn’t instantly be reached for remark.
ICFR in its assertion underlined that Salah Marei has a medical situation that provides a layer of urgency to this case.
“Omar has a thyroid disorder requiring daily medication that must not be interrupted. Three months before his arrest, he underwent surgery on his wrist — nine screws, two metal plates — and was still in active recovery and physiotherapy when he was taken,” it famous. “We have no reason to believe that he has received any medical care during the nine days he has now been in custody. The Law and Democracy Support Foundation has stated that denying him access to medication and care during his disappearance may already constitute ill-treatment under international law,” the assertion added.
“Omar is not a dissident in any conventional political sense,” the assertion continued. “He is a filmmaker who came to cinema from engineering through his own initiative, and who uses comedy as a vehicle for social commentary.”
The ICFR – which was based by the Worldwide Documentary Movie Competition Amsterdam, Worldwide Movie Competition Rotterdam and the European Movie Academy, to advocate for, and to behave in solidarity with filmmakers at extreme and acute threat – has vowed to proceed to comply with this case carefully and report on additional developments.
