Egyptian human rights organizations issued a statement on Monday, warning the authorities against “taking the usual route of short-term security resolutions in addressing the crisis of the kidnapped security officers in Sinai.”

The non-governmental organizations (NGOs) called on the government to address the roots of this crisis through responding to the demands of putting an end to the long-standing injustice imposed on the people of Sinai.

Islamist militants kidnapped seven security officers on Thursday, demanding the release of all their political detainees in exchange for the hostages.

These political detainees were mostly arrested in the wake of several terrorist bombings that took place in the Sinai Peninsula in the years of 2004, 2005 and 2011.

“The signatory organizations reject portraying the current crisis as if there is a contradiction between freeing the kidnapped soldiers and lifting the injustice imposed on the people of Sinai, that is clearly displayed in detaining some of them in violation of law,” said the statement.

The statement explained that the people of Sinai have failed to have their voices heard through peaceful and legal endeavors over the past years.

The statement stressed that the undersigned organizations reject the death penalty verdicts issued against the detainees in these cases, pointing out that these verdicts were issued “in exceptional and unjust trials that took place in accordance with the notorious emergency law.”

The statement was signed by a number of NGOs, including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Al-Nadeem Center and Hisham Mubarak Center among other organizations.

The NGOs stressed that a fundamental solution to the prolonged crisis in the Sinai Peninsula would only occur through putting an end to the political and economic marginalization of its people.

The statement added that the authorities’ manner in dealing with the crisis must be in line with the law and the principles of necessity and proportionality, rejecting any form of collective punishment on the people in Sinai.