I thank you Mr President for this opportunity. I wish to talk about the abuse, arrests, and denigration suffered by those defending the rights of Nubian minorities. The following are merely examples of human rights advocates suffering retaliatory measures as a result of their activities: ❎️ Mohammed Al-Bakir, Attorney: 🔴 He was arrested in 2019 while performing his role as an attorney in the aftermath of submitting a report to United Nations in March 2019. The report was entitled UPR and addressed the issue of Nubian rights and the violations against the same. 🔴 The period of preventative detention ended in March 2021. However, Mr Al-Bakir was not released. 🔴 He was in fact accused in relation to a different case in order to extend the detention period and to gain the process legitimacy by means of deception. A process known widely as “rotation”. 🔴 In December 2021 he was sentenced by an extraordinary court to imprisonment for a term of 4 years and placed on the terrorism list. 🔴 The period of preventative detention was not taken into account, which would reduce the term in a fair trial. ❎️ The 10 Nubians detained in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia: 🔴 Some of them were threatened by the Egyptian Embassy in Riyadh in order to discourage them from pursuing cultural activities they had undertaken for decades. 🔴 They were arrested because of their intention to prepare for an annual cultural celebration and sentenced. Some of the 10 were sentenced to imprisonment for terms of up to 18 years! 🔴 They did not receive legal support from the embassy or the competent ministries. ❎️ The Photojournalist Alia Awad who was undertaking journalistic work: 🔴 She was arrested and sentenced to imprisonment for a term of 15 years. ********************** ✅️ We request that the United Nations reinforces protection for the right to exercise free speech and provides protection to activists advocating for minority and Nubian rights. We further request that it appeals to the Egyptian authorities to stop pursuing, imprisoning, and abusing activists, and for their names to be removed from travel ban and border crossing monitoring lists. Thank you.