On International Workers’ Day: Freedom for Workers’ Defenders 100 Days Since Hossam El-Naggar’s Detention

Statement by the Revolutionary Socialists

On International Workers’ Day, the counter-revolutionary regime continues to persecute workers and those who defend them. Every day, hundreds of workers are displaced or pushed below the poverty line. Caught between the regime’s harsh economic measures and the oppressive anti-terrorism law, workers are being exploited and prevented from resisting or defending their rights. Anyone who dares to demand improvements in working conditions faces repression, and those who stand by workers or protect them are met with persecution from a regime that has mastered the organized plundering of the people’s wealth. Despite this, workers continue to resist and defend their rights.

Following the arrest of the Alexandria Shipyard workers and their referral to military trials for demanding better health and safety conditions in their workplace, the arrest of Cairo’s public transportation workers for planning a strike, and the dismissal of IFFCO oil workers in Suez for protesting low wages and the absence of a cost-of-living allowance, we now see the workers of Telecom Egypt continuing their fight for fair wages and payment of a cost-of-living allowance ahead of International Workers’ Day. Sixteen of these workers were arrested, and although they were later released, engineer Shokry El-Gabaly, one of the company’s employees from Alexandria, was subsequently detained and transferred to the Azbakeya Prosecutor’s Office, which scheduled his investigation for Workers’ Day. These events demonstrate the continued resistance of workers to the economic measures imposed by the regime despite the repression.

In addition to persecuting workers across different sectors, the regime also targets political figures who defend workers’ rights and stand in solidarity with them. The regime fears the connection between economic and social struggles and political resistance. We are witnessing the repression of activists from within the workers’ ranks, including Hossam El-Naggar, the Secretary of the Strong Egypt Party’s committee in Alexandria. Today marks 100 days since his arrest by the counter-revolutionary regime. After being arrested on January 20 and forcibly disappeared for an entire day, he reappeared at the Montaza First Prosecution. He was charged with the usual fabricated accusations brought against opposition figures—membership in a banned group, incitement to protest, and incitement to violence. A 15-day detention order was issued against him in case No. 1280 of 2017, along with 14 others. 114 individuals are wanted in this case, though only 15 have been arrested. Some detained have repeatedly renewed their detention, with their imprisonment now reaching 100 days.

Hossam El-Naggar is one of the founders of the solidarity campaign supporting the Alexandria Shipyard workers facing military trials. He has always stood by the side of struggling workers and supported the cause of national liberation. He is also a member of the BDS campaign to boycott and impose sanctions on the Zionist entity and a founding member of the “We Want to Live” campaign, which fights against policies of impoverishment.

The Revolutionary Socialists demanded the release of Hossam El-Naggar and all those unjustly imprisoned by the counter-revolutionary regime.
Revolutionary Socialists
May 1, 2017