When world leaders, diplomats, campaigners and scientists from nearly 200 countries arrive for the United Nations climate change conference in Egypt Monday, their focus will be on curbing global warming.
But away from the five-star hotels and soft, sandy beaches in the Red Sea resort town where the huge conference is being held, rights groups and activists have accused Egypt of “green-washing” — the act of claiming to be environmentally-friendly to enhance its reputation.
They have called for the world leaders attending the event, known as COP 27, to confront the Egyptian government over its alleged human-rights abuses, particularly its treatment of political prisoners.
Hunger and water strike
Among the most prominent of those prisoners is Alaa Abdel-Fattah, a popular blogger, software developer and pro-democracy activist who rose to prominence during the popular uprising that ousted autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011.
In 2019, he was jailed for “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news” to undermine national security.
Amnesty International called the charges “bogus” and said Fattah’s trial was “inherently unfair,” in an open letter to Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi last November. It said that Fattah, 40, a British national, was being prosecuted because of his activism and social media posts highlighting human rights violations allegedly committed by the Egyptian government.
Fattah has been on a hunger strike for more than 200 days and escalated his protest on Sunday to stop drinking water, his family said.
“He is very frail. Just skin and bones,” his sister, Mona Seif, told NBC News Thursday.
Seif, 36, who with her sister, Sanaa, 28, began a sit-in outside Britain’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office in central London to highlight his case, said that her brother’s health was deteriorating rapidly, and the family was worried he could die in the coming weeks.
Amnesty’s head, Agnes Callamard, warned Sunday that Egypt had no more than 72 hours to save the jailed dissident's life.
“The Egyptian government has imposed arbitrary funding, research and registration obstacles that have debilitated local environmental groups, forcing some activists into exile and others to steer clear of important work,” he said.
That has led to the "greenwashing" accusations.
“They have two main objectives,” said Amnesty’s Middle East and North Africa researcher Hussein Baoumi.
“The first is pushing their climate agenda, which I would say includes environmental damage and reparations. But on the other hand, they want to greenwash their image and show to the world that they’re not responsible for human rights abuses,” he added.
NBC News emailed the Egyptian Ministry of Environment for comment.
The accusations are echoed by Hossam Bahgat, the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, a Cairo-based human rights organization.
"My Organization has been working in the field of environmental justice for 10 years now," Bahgat said Saturday.