Egypt faces criticism over crackdown on activists ahead of COP27 climate summit 

CNN — 

Egypt is facing a barrage of criticism over what rights group say is a crackdown on protests and activists, as it prepares to host the COP27 climate summit starting Sunday.

Rights groups have accused the Egyptian government of arbitrarily detaining activists after Egyptian dissidents abroad called for protests to be held against President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi on November 11, during the United Nations climate talks.

According to rights groups, security forces have been setting up checkpoints on Cairo streets, stopping people and searching their phones to find any content related to the planned protests.

The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), an NGO, said Wednesday that 93 people had been arrested in Egypt in recent days. It said that according to national security prosecution investigations, some of those arrested have allegedly sent videos calling for protests over social messaging apps. Some were also charged with abuse of social media, spreading false news and joining terrorist organizations – a repressive charge commonly used by the security apparatus against activists.

Indian climate activist Ajit Rajagopal was detained in Cairo last Sunday after setting off on a protest walk from the Egyptian capital to Sharm el-Sheikh, the Red Sea resort where the COP27 conference will be held from November 6 to 18. Rajagopal was released after a brief detention in Cairo along with his friend, lawyer Makarios Lahzy, a Facebook post by Lahzy said. Reuters, which spoke to Rajagopal following his release Monday, cited the Indian activist as saying he was still trying to get accredited for COP27 but did not plan to resume his march.

Egypt went through two mass uprisings in 2011 and 2013 which eventually paved the way for then-military chief Sisi to take power. Thousands of activists have since been jailed, spaces for public expression have been quashed and press freedom diminished.

While protests are rare – and mostly illegal – in Egypt, a looming economic crisis and a brutal security regime have spurred renewed calls for demonstrations by dissidents seeking to exploit a rare window of opportunity presented by the climate summit.

One jailed activist, British-Egyptian citizen Alaa Abdelfattah, escalated his hunger strike in an Egyptian prison this week, amid warnings by relatives over his deteriorating health. “Alaa has been on hunger strike for 200 days, he’s been surviving on only 100 calories of liquid a day,” said Sanaa Seif, Abdelfattah’s sister, who is staging a sit-in outside the UK Foreign Office in London.