English: Mohamed Soltan of the Freedom Initiative offers remarks during "An American Tragedy: Mustafa Kassem's Needless Death in Sisi's Prison."

Egyptian-American Mustafa Kassem passed away after more than six years of unjust detention and negligent medical care in Egypt. In 2013, he was detained after showing his American passport to Egyptian army officials when they asked for identification, then held in pretrial detention for five years, and convicted in a mass trial with no individualized evidence against him. Mustafa leaves behind his wife and two children, all of whom are American citizens.

On Wednesday, January 15, 2020, six human rights and democracy organizations held an event on Capitol Hill to address the tragic circumstances surrounding Mustafa’s death, the other Americans currently jailed in Egypt, and the dire conditions in Egypt’s prisons.

Featuring Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-VT) Sen. Chris Murphy (D-CT) Sen. Chris Van Hollen (D-MD) Rep. Peter King (R-NY) Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA) Rep. Thomas Suozzi (D-NY) Aya Hijazi, Belady Foundation Mohamed Soltan, The Freedom Initiative Diane Foley, James W. Foley Legacy Foundation Praveen Madhiraju, Pretrial Rights International

Sponsored by The Freedom Initiative Human Rights First Human Rights Watch James W. Foley Legacy Foundation Pretrial Rights International Project on Middle East Democracy

Watch the event here.

Photo credit: April Brady/Project on Middle East Democracy