"Egypt: Calls to release Safwan Thabet as wife fights for life" 7 Mar 2022

The family of the detained Egyptian businessman Safwan Thabet has renewed calls for his release as his wife fights for her life at a Cairo hospital. 

Amnesty International has said Safwan Thabet and his son Seif Thabet, the owners of the Juhayna dairy company, are held in solitary confinement at Cairo's notorious Scorpion Prison in conditions that amount to torture due to their refusal to give up their shares in the firm to a military-owned business...

He was detained in December 2020, and his son Seif was arrested two months later on charges of “funding terrorism, undermining the national economy and joining an unlawful organization”.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) said the two have been jailed in violation of due process rights without any evidence to support the charges against them.

Sources told HRW that Seif Thabet’s arrest came after the authorities failed attempt to get the family to merge their company with a military-owned dairy production company.

Thabet junior refused to give up the family’s shares to a “sovereign entity” - which security agencies did not name - without any compensation, the rights group said.