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EGYPT-PROTESTS-POLITICS-RIGHTS
Nearly 2,000 arrests in Egypt crackdown: HRW
CAIRO, Sept 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Egypt has arrested nearly 2,000 people in
what may be its biggest crackdown since the aftermath of the 2013 ouster of
Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, Human Rights Watch said Friday.
The authorities have also blocked or interrupted various internet services
and websites, in a bid to stamp out any repetition of the open defiance of
President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi shown by protesters last weekend, the watchdog
said.
“Lawyers for detainees have posted on their social media pages several
accounts of security forces arbitrarily arresting many people merely for
being in the ‘wrong place at the wrong time’ or possessing critical content
on their phones,” HRW said in a statement.
“The government also has deployed uniformed and plainclothes security
officers in Cairo, Alexandria and other cities in and around main streets and
squares, randomly stopping passersby, searching and questioning people, and
forcing them to show the contents of their mobile phones and social media
accounts.”
Last weekend’s rare protests against what is widely seen as one of the most
authoritarian governments in the Middle East were triggered by viral videos
from exiled businessman Mohamed Aly.
He has called for a “million-man march” and a “people’s revolution” to
unseat Sisi, whom he accuses of building lavish palaces while taxpayers
grapple with the impact of austerity under an IMF loan programme totalling
$12 billion.
HRW called on Egypt’s Western allies to suspend military assistance until
the government ceases its “gross violations of international law”.
“World leaders should recognise that providing security and military
assistance to abusive forces won’t bring stability to Egypt, and that what’s
needed instead is a government that respects the rights and freedoms of the
Egyptian people,” said its Middle East and North Africa director, Sarah Leah
Whitson.
BSS/AFP/SSS/1325 hrs