Egyptian Expatriates Say Families Facing Ramped-Up Pressure at Home
CAIRO (Dispatches) – Egyptian rights activists in the United States are accusing the government of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of targeting their loved ones to pressure them into silence, spurring calls for President Joe Biden to put pressure on Egypt to address its human rights record.
Sherif Mansour, the Washington, DC-based Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Egyptian security forces raided three of his relatives’ homes in Egypt since August 20, arresting several people.
All but one have been released; his cousin Reda was accused of being a member of a "terrorist organization” and remains in detention pending trial.
"For the first 45 days, we didn’t even know where he was,” said Mansour, who was also charged in absentia with terrorism in his cousin’s case, as were his father and brother. "During his detention, Reda was often deprived of food and medication. It’s only now that they’ve allowed him a monthly visit and he’s been able to send letters to his family.”
In a telephone interview last week with MBC Masr television, el-Sisi responded to the criticism, telling the Egyptian people to be wary of a "foreign conspiracy” subsisting on domestic tension. "Whoever targets me or the regime in Egypt is, in fact, targeting the Egyptian people. This is what Egyptians should know,” he said.
But a coalition of rights groups that includes Human Rights Watch and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said relatives of Egyptian critics abroad have increasingly been subjected to arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention without trial or charges.
Ten years after a revolution led to the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak, an estimated 60,000 Egyptians remain in detention after a crackdown on political opponents, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as human rights and democratic activists.
Many dissidents have had to flee and live in exile. Journalists who sought to uncover government rights violations were systematically targeted.
In another development in Egypt, authorities carried out executions against 11 prisoners in a jail in the country’s north amid huge international human rights criticism against the move.
The Egyptian daily Al-Watan said on Tuesday that "the Egyptian Prisoners Authority Monday executed 11 prisoners convicted in criminal cases.”
"The corpses were transferred to Alexandria’s Kom El Deka morgue, then they will be handed over to their families for burial,” it reported.
Quoting an unnamed security source, the daily said the executions took place following all levels of litigation, making the provisions "final and enforceable.”
Sherif Mansour, the Washington, DC-based Middle East and North Africa program coordinator at the Committee to Protect Journalists, said Egyptian security forces raided three of his relatives’ homes in Egypt since August 20, arresting several people.
All but one have been released; his cousin Reda was accused of being a member of a "terrorist organization” and remains in detention pending trial.
"For the first 45 days, we didn’t even know where he was,” said Mansour, who was also charged in absentia with terrorism in his cousin’s case, as were his father and brother. "During his detention, Reda was often deprived of food and medication. It’s only now that they’ve allowed him a monthly visit and he’s been able to send letters to his family.”
In a telephone interview last week with MBC Masr television, el-Sisi responded to the criticism, telling the Egyptian people to be wary of a "foreign conspiracy” subsisting on domestic tension. "Whoever targets me or the regime in Egypt is, in fact, targeting the Egyptian people. This is what Egyptians should know,” he said.
But a coalition of rights groups that includes Human Rights Watch and Democracy for the Arab World Now (DAWN) said relatives of Egyptian critics abroad have increasingly been subjected to arbitrary arrests and prolonged detention without trial or charges.
Ten years after a revolution led to the overthrow of then-President Hosni Mubarak, an estimated 60,000 Egyptians remain in detention after a crackdown on political opponents, including members of the Muslim Brotherhood, as well as human rights and democratic activists.
Many dissidents have had to flee and live in exile. Journalists who sought to uncover government rights violations were systematically targeted.
In another development in Egypt, authorities carried out executions against 11 prisoners in a jail in the country’s north amid huge international human rights criticism against the move.
The Egyptian daily Al-Watan said on Tuesday that "the Egyptian Prisoners Authority Monday executed 11 prisoners convicted in criminal cases.”
"The corpses were transferred to Alexandria’s Kom El Deka morgue, then they will be handed over to their families for burial,” it reported.
Quoting an unnamed security source, the daily said the executions took place following all levels of litigation, making the provisions "final and enforceable.”