We are extremely pleased to announce that we, along with Mr. Mohamed El-Baqer, an Egyptian lawyer courageously standing up to human rights violations and authoritarianism in Egypt, have been awarded the Rule of Law Award for 2022 by the international legal organization Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and LexisNexis.
At the same time, we join the call for the immediate and unconditional release of Mr. El-Baqer and the cessation of all repressive practices and harassment against him, including the unfounded, abusive and unjustified actions that led to his arrest.
The UIA Award was established to recognize individuals and/or organizations that actively contribute to the development and promotion of the rule of law at the national, regional or international level, particularly in the legal community.
Since its inception, the award has been awarded to: in 2016, the Malaysian Bar Association; in 2017. Saidbek Nuritdinov, President of the Union of Lawyers of the Republic of Tajikistan; in 2018. Ruth Bader Ginsburg, U.S. Supreme Court Justice; in 2019, French lawyer Bertrand Favreau, President of IDHAE; in 2020, European lawyers from Lesbos; and in 2021, Afghan lawyer Latifa Sharifi. It is an honor to join such a group!
