Dozens of Countries Urge Egypt to End Crackdown on Critics

Dozens of countries have told the United Nations (UN) that Egypt must stop using anti-terror laws to gag human rights and civil society activism.
n a joint statement issued on Friday at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), 31 Western countries expressed concern about the restrictions on political opponents, rights activists, and journalists in Egypt.

The statement — whose signatories were mainly European countries in addition to the United States, Canada, Australia, and New Zealand — marked a rare oral rebuke of Egypt since 2014.

They expressed alarm at “the application of terrorism legislation against peaceful critics,” urging Cairo to stop using terrorism charges to keep activists in pre-trial detention indefinitely.

“We urge Egypt to guarantee space for civil society — including human rights defenders — to work without fear of intimidation, harassment, arrest, detention or any other form of reprisal,” Finland’s Ambassador to the UN in Geneva Kirsti Kauppi said via video link, reading out the joint statement.

“That includes lifting travel bans and asset freezes against human rights defenders — including EIPR staff,” she added, referring to the case of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), a rights organization that saw three staffers arrested last November and was charged with terrorism after a meeting with foreign diplomats in Cairo.

The EIPR’s activists were released following a global outcry.

Source: Press TV