France: Paris hails Egyptian human righst activist for winning Martin Ennals prize

12 Octobre 2017

Paris, France, October 12 (Infosplusgabon) -  France has praised the attribution of the 'Martin Ennals' prize for human rights to Egyptian Mohamed Zaree for his courageous promotion of human rights in his country, official sources told  on Thursday.

Mr Mohamed Zaree, director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and legal practitioner specialized in human rights, freedom of speech and association, has demonstrated constant courage in the promotion of human rights and the defence of activities of NGOs in Egypt.

Banned from travelling outside the country since May 2016, Mr Zaree is also chair of the Forum of Egyptian independent NGOs and Human Rights, a network aiming to bring together human rights groups.

"France is attached to the respect of human rights and civil liberties. It considers that civil society activists play a key role in strengthening democracy and the pluralism of ideas»," said the French foreign affairs ministry.

The 'Martin Ennals' prize, which bears the name of the former Secretary General of Amnesty International, is awarded every year by a jury of 10 leading human rights organisations to a distinguished personality who has shown notable merit in the defence of human rights.

The prize, also called 'Human Rights Nobel prize', was presented by the Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on 10 October at Geneva University.

FIN/INFOSPLUSGABON/RER/GABON 2017

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