As it gets ready to host the COP27 climate summit beginning on Sunday, Egypt is coming under fire from rights groups for what they claim is a crackdown on protestors and activists.
Following calls for demonstrations against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi from Egyptian dissidents abroad on November 11, during the United Nations climate conference, rights organizations have accused the Egyptian authorities of arbitrarily detaining activists.
Rights organizations claim that security forces have set up checkpoints in the streets of Cairo, stopping people, and searching their phones for information about the upcoming protests. An NGO named the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), which reported 93 arrests in recent days in Egypt.
It stated that several individuals detained allegedly sent recordings urging for protests via social messaging applications, per national security prosecution investigations. Some were also accused of misusing social media, disseminating fake information, and joining terrorist groups—repressive accusations frequently used by the security establishment against activists.
After embarking on a protest walk from Cairo, Egypt, to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where the COP27 meeting will be held from November 6 to 18, Indian climate activist Ajit Rajagopal was jailed there last Sunday. According to Makarios Lahzy’s Facebook post, Rajagopal and his friend were both released after a brief incarceration in Cairo.
Following his release on Monday, Rajagopal was contacted by Reuters, which reported that the Indian activist said he was still attempting to gain admission to COP27 but had no plans to resume his march.
A growing economic crisis and a harsh security regime have prompted new demands for protests by dissidents looking to take advantage of a unique window of opportunity provided by the climate summit, despite the fact that protests are uncommon and typically illegal in Egypt.
