Human rights NGOs question Macron before Sissi's visit
Police officers keep prisoners in a soundproof glass cage inside a makeshift courtroom at Tora Prison in Cairo, Egypt.
(File photo July 2018) AP - Amr Nabil
Text by: RFI Follow
5 mins
About twenty organizations including FIDH, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday appealed to the French president to "put pressure" on the Egyptian president in order to obtain the release of the detained human rights activists. "Arbitrarily" in the country, before a visit to France scheduled, according to them, on December 7.
Publicity
Read more
Abdel Fattah al-Sisi's visit, which should last two days, has not yet been confirmed by Paris or Cairo.
"
It is now or never that President (Emmanuel) Macron must keep his commitment to human rights in Egypt,
" write 17 organizations, denouncing, again, the arrest in mid-November of three officials of the Egyptian NGO EIPR (Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights).
►
Read also: Egypt: the three officials of a human rights NGO kept in detention
In their eyes, these arrests,
denounced
by diplomats and the United Nations, "
mark a further escalation of the authorities' campaign to eradicate the human rights movement in Egypt
".
The NGOs have also cited the “arbitrary detention” for a year of
Ramy Shaath
, defender of Egyptian-Palestinian rights, married to a French woman.
According to these Egyptian, French and international NGOs, "
French diplomacy has long shown leniency at the highest level for the brutal repression of President al-Sisi against any form of dissent
."
The responses from Paris cannot be limited to “
a verbal condemnation
”, with the visit of Mr. al-Sissi, “
France has the opportunity and the duty to take a strong public position
”, according to them.
In their call entitled "
to end unconditional support for the Egyptian government
", the NGOs ask Emmanuel Macron to obtain from Cairo, before President al-Sisi's visit, the release of "
activists and defenders (of human rights ) arbitrarily detained
”.
If "
those who improperly imprison them are rewarded with arms sales and praise, the consequences for (...) human rights in Egypt will be devastating and President Macron's commitment to fundamental rights in Egypt will be discredited
" , add the organizations.
According to NGOs, Mr. Macron has "
long justified his support
" in Cairo for its role in "the regional fight against terrorism", while "
Egypt is abusing anti-terrorism legislation to eradicate legitimate work in favor of human rights and suppress all peaceful opposition
”.
(With
AFP
)
♦ A "frenzy of executions"
Amnesty International denounces a "frenzy of executions" in Egypt.
At least 57 people have reportedly been executed in the past two months, double the figures for last year.
This reflects a "
deep human rights crisis
" in the country, according to the NGO.
We are indeed talking about a frenzy of executions when we see this absolutely staggering figure [...] There is a distressing trampling of the right to life and which displays a shocking spirit of the Egyptian authorities in matters of international law.
Katia Roux, liberties advocate at Amnesty International
Murielle Paradon
►
Read also:
Egypt: an NGO denounces preventive arrests
Newsletter
Receive all the international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
France
Human rights
Egypt
Abdel Fattah al-Sissi
NGO
On the same subject
Egypt: an NGO denounces preventive arrests
Egypt: France "concerned" by the arrest of a human rights activist
Egypt: the three leaders of a human rights NGO kept in detention