(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/3/2023) – The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today joined 51 human rights organizations in calling for the release Salah Soltan, an Egyptian-American Islamic scholar imprisoned since 2017, and encouraged the State Department to take action to ensure his freedom.
Soltan, a former professor of Islamic Law at Cairo University and founder of the Islamic American University in Michigan, was arrested in Egypt in 2013 on charges related to his opposition to Egypt’s military coup. In 2017, a court sentenced him to life in prison in a mass trial widely regarded as unfair and lacking in due process. Soltan suffers from life-threatening health issues including heart and liver diseases and has reportedly endured torture and other forms of ill treatment from Egyptian authorities.
The organizations calling for Soltan’s release, which include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and other major international advocacy groups, believe he was arrested in retaliation for the human rights advocacy work of his son, Mohamed Soltan.
SEE: Human rights organizations urge Cairo to release ‘arbitrarily detained’ Islamic Law scholar
https://www.jurist.org/news/2023/05/human-rights-organizations-urge-cairo-to-release-arbitrarily-detained-islamic-law-scholar/
Egypt: Detained Academic at Risk of Death
https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/03/egypt-detained-academic-risk-death
“We call on the State Department to demand that the Egyptian government end its unjust imprisonment of Salah Soltan and all of the journalists, political activists, religious scholars, and others imprisoned without due process of law,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “Our nation should not send a single dollar in military aid to the Egyptian government while it unjustly imprisons thousands of people, including an American citizen.”
CAIR’s mission is to protect civil rights, enhance understanding of Islam, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.
La misión de CAIR es proteger las libertades civiles, mejorar la comprensión del Islam, promover la justicia, y empoderar a los musulmanes en los Estados Unidos.
Become a Fan of CAIR on Facebook
http://www.facebook.com/CAIRNational
Subscribe to CAIR’s Email List
https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters
Subscribe to CAIR’s Twitter Feed
http://twitter.com/cairnational
Subscribe to CAIR’s YouTube Channel
http://www.youtube.com/cairtv
Follow CAIR on Instagram
https://www.instagram.com/cair_national/
Donate to CAIR
https://action.cair.com/a/donate
Do you like reading CAIR press releases and taking part in our action alerts? You can help contribute to CAIR’s work of defending civil rights and empowering American Muslims across the country by making a one-time contribution or becoming a monthly donor. Supporters like you make CAIR’s advocacy work possible and defeating Islamophobia an achievable goal. Click here to
donate to CAIR.
If you would like to join CAIR’s media list, please sign up here: https://action.cair.com/a/newsletters — For more information, email: [email protected], CC [email protected]
END
CONTACT: CAIR National Deputy Director Edward Ahmed Mitchell, 404-285-9530, [email protected]; CAIR Government Affairs Director Robert McCaw, 202-742-6448, [email protected]; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, [email protected], CAIR National Communications Manager Ismail Allison, 202-770-6280, [email protected]