Seif Fateen
Detained Since: November 14, 2018.
Charges: Joining and financing a terrorist group (Article 13 of Egypt’s Anti-Terrorism Law No. 94 of 2015)
Sentence: None.
Biography: Seif Fateen is a prominent chemical and environmental engineer based in Egypt where he served as assistant to the minister of higher education under the democratically elected government of Mohamed Morsi from 2012 to 2013. Seif was arrested without a warrant on November 14, 2018 when several members of the Egyptian National Security Agency first raided his home. They then proceeded to blindfold and transport him to an unknown detention facility, where he remained forcibly disappeared for more than nine months.
During this time, Seif was in near-total isolation and was subjected to torture and abuse, including electric shocks, beating, willful medical negligence, prolonged blindfolding, and handcuffing to a pipe in the wall. On August 5, 2019, Seif appeared without a lawyer before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP), which accused him of joining and financing a terrorist group, a charge that could lead to a minimum of 10 years in prison, or even capital punishment through Egypt’s Anti-Terrorism Law. Seif was added to case 930 of 2019, commonly referred to as the Hope Case. Defendants in the Hope Case include political opposition activists, journalists, human rights defenders, and businessmen whose homes were all raided and who were subsequently arrested on terrorism-related charges. While some defendants in the Hope Case have been released and others have faced trial, Seif continues to be held without trial, exceeding Egypt’s legal maximum of two years in pretrial detention. Throughout Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s presidency, Egyptian authorities have arrested thousands of individuals perceived to be in opposition to the government and its policies, including activists, bloggers, journalists, and former governmental figures like Seif.
Seif’s imprisonment has led him to develop several serious health conditions, including hypertension, a skin condition due to having been denied proper hygiene products, and significant weight loss from poor nutrition in the prison. Furthermore, Seif’s living conditions inside prison are inhospitable. Prison guards and officers often prevent him from receiving outside material, such as books, paper, and warm clothes and outerwear.
Seif is a well-known academic who has focused his research on thermodynamics and storage of energy from renewable sources, among many other topics. Seif was born November 10, 1971 in Cairo, Egypt, and he traveled to the United States to pursue his education. Seif obtained a Master of Chemical Engineering Practice and a PhD in Chemical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in 2002, and he lived and worked in the United States until 2005. After leaving the United States to return to Egypt, he took a position as a chemical and environmental engineering professor at Cairo University; in 2014 he held positions at the American University in Cairo and Zewail City for Science and Technology. Since 2009 and until his arrest, Seif maintained an active YouTube channel, where he uploaded instructional videos on various engineering subjects, which have gotten hundreds of thousands of views.
Advocate: Rep. Suzan DelBene (D-WA)
Advocacy Partner: Scholars at Risk