Travel bans systematically used to silence Human Rights defenders' voices
Geneva-Paris, February 12, 2016 - The travel ban against Mr Gamal Eidissued on 4 February 2016 is only the latest in a long series of arbitrarytravel restrictions against prominent Human Rights defenders and activists.Amnesty International, EuroMed Rights, Front Line Defenders, Human RightsWatch, IFEX, the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders (ajoint OMCT-FIDH programme), People In Need and Solidar condemn this blatantcrackdown perpetrated by the Egyptian authorities against independent civilsociety.
On 4 February 2016, Mr Gamal Eid, a renowned Human Rightslawyer, founder and executive director of the Arabic Network for Human RightsInformation (ANHRI), was informed by Egyptian security at Cairo InternationalAirport, where he went to take a flight to Athens for a business trip, that atravel ban had been placed upon him. No explanation was given to him about thereasons for the ban, nor had any previous notification or summon forinvestigation been notified to him.
Our organisations would like to stress that this is not an isolated casein Egypt. Travel bans have been repeatedly used by Egyptian authorities as atool to intimidate and silence independent voices of Human Rights defenders andactivists, as well as lawyers and journalists, and are unfortunately becomingstandard practice in the country. Furthermore, such measures are being takenwithout serious judicial grounds and are often unfounded and arbitrary.
The list of Egyptian Human Rights defenders and activists prevented fromtravelling abroad is increasingly long.
According to reports received by Front Line Defenders, on 14 January2016, the activist and poet Mr Omar Hazek was stopped at theairport by Egyptian security and was not able to take a flight to Amsterdam tobe awarded a prize for freedom of expression from PEN International. Theauthorities also reportedly confiscated Mr Hazek's passport and mobile phone,and questioned him on his activities in Egypt, his relations with internationalorganisations, and told him the travel ban against him had been issued on'security grounds'.
Moreover, Mr Mohamed Lotfy, founder and executive directorof the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), has been effectivelyunder a travel ban for ‘security reasons’ since 2 June 2015, when securityforces prevented him from flying to Germany to carry out Human Rights advocacyactivities and to speak before the German Parliament about the Human Rightssituation in Egypt.
On 13 January 2015 political activist, Ms Esraa Abdel Fattah,who worked at the Egyptian Democratic Academy, had to face the same situationas she was banned from travelling to Germany. Travel bans were also imposedthroughout the years on Messrs Hossameldin Ali, AhmedGhonim and Bassim Samir of the Egyptian DemocraticAcademy, according to reports received by Front Line Defenders. Many EgyptianHuman Rights defenders and activists, including some of those banned fromtravel, remain under investigation in a criminal case opened in 2011 concerningtheir alleged receipt of unlawful foreign funding. Investigators have visitedthe premises of Human Rights organisations asking for registration documents,while judges have continued to ask staff to come in for questioning.
Our organisations firmly condemn increasingly routine imposition of arbitrarytravel bans on Human Rights defenders and activists in Egypt, since it appearsto be only aimed at undermining their legitimate and peaceful activities indefence of Human Rights and democracy.
Accordingly, our organisations urge the Egyptian authorities to immediatelyand unconditionally lift travel bans imposed on Human Rights defenders andactivists in the country solely for engaging in peaceful activities, and to putan end to all forms of harassment, including at judicial level, against Human Rightsand democracy activists in the country. Under international Human Rights law,bans on leaving one’s country can only be imposed for legitimate andnon-arbitrary reasons. Such bans should be proportionate (i.e. temporary) andeveryone on whom a ban is imposed should be immediately informed of the ban,the reasons for it and its duration, and should be able to challenge it in afair hearing.
Finally, our organisations strongly call upon the internationalcommunity to take a clear stand against the increasing crackdown by the Egyptianauthorities against civil society voices. In particular, we urge the EuropeanUnion authorities to:
- raise theirconcerns on the increasing use of this means of silencing Human Rights defendersand activists in every high-level meeting with their Egyptian counterparts, inaccordance with the EU guidelines on Human Rights defenders;
- to express theirsupport to Human Rights defenders by inviting them to conferences, forums andhearings and to ensure regular exchange with them on the Human Rights situationin the country via the EU delegation and embassies.
For more information,please contact:
· Amnesty International:Tel: +44 7778 472 126
· EuroMed Rights: Marie Shand – Tel: +32 484 675 543
· FIDH: Audrey Croupie / Arthur Manet – Tel: +33 648 05 91 57 / +33 6 72 28 42 94
· Front Line Defenders: Jim Loughran – Tel: +353 87 93 77
· Human Rights Watch: Joe Stork – Tel: +1 202 299 4925
· IFEX: Tel: +1 416 515 9622
· OMCT: Chiara Cosentino – Tel: +41 22 809 49 39
· People in Need: Klara Bednarova – Tel: +420 226 200 441
· Solidar: Mabel Grossi – Tel: +32 2 500 10 25
