HRW: Hundreds arrested in nationwide crackdown in Egypt
Internet Interrupted, News Sites Blocked.
Internet Interrupted, News Sites Blocked.
Human Rights Watch (HRW) reported that Egyptian authorities have arrested nearly 2,000 people in a sweeping nationwide crackdown following anti-government protests that erupted on September 20, 2019. Authorities acknowledged only 1,000 arrests.
According to HRW, the authorities have blocked news and political websites and interrupted other internet services that protesters relied on to communicate and document government abuses. “The authorities should pledge to respect the right to peaceful assembly by allowing protests, applying nonviolent means to respond before resorting to the use of force, and taking measures to prevent violence between opposing protesters. The government should release all those arrested solely for peacefully exercising their rights and should stop interfering with news sites and internet services.”
“The government’s mass arrests and internet restrictions seem intended to scare Egyptians away from protesting and to leave them in the dark about what’s happening in the country,” said Sarah Leah Whitson, Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. “The nationwide crackdown on protests suggests that President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi is terrified of Egyptians’ criticisms.”
The protests erupted with demonstrators calling to stem corruption and demanding that al-Sisi step down. Mohamed Ali, a contractor who worked for the army for years and now lives in Spain in self-imposed exile, helped spark the protests by posting widely watched Facebook videos exposing alleged government corruption. He called for new protests on September 27.
The mass arrests may be the most sweeping the government has made since late 2013, Human Rights Watch said. Security forces have dramatically escalated mass arrests, with reports from Egyptian rights organizations that about 2,000 people have been arrested since September 20. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights said that prosecutors ordered at least 977 of them detained “pending investigations.” Security forces have held incommunicado an additional 920 who have not yet appeared before prosecutors, all apparently for alleged connections to the protests. The government also arrested a number of politicians and journalists in the sweep.
Those detained include 68 women and an unknown number of children, human rights lawyers reported. A lawyer told Human Rights Watch that the security forces released a number of detainees, including several children.