Amnesty International on Tuesday called out the international community to demand the immediate release of peaceful protesters, activists and human rights defenders in Egypt following a crackdown that saw more than 3,800 people arrested in recent months. The statement comes ahead of the country’s upcoming review session at the UN Human Rights Council on November 13.
The international rights group has also called on states to use Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session to demand an investigation into torture and other ill-treatment by security forces, and the inhuman conditions of detention, and to end their repressive use of arbitrary travel bans and judicial harassment to punish human rights activists.
“Egypt’s human rights review at the UN Human Rights Council this week is a golden opportunity for the international community to hold the Egyptian authorities to account for their dire human rights record,” said Najia Bounaim, North Africa Campaigns Director at Amnesty International.
Bounaim added that it is important for the world to publicly denounce the degradation of human rights in Egypt and demand the release of peaceful protesters who have been arbitrarily detained.
The review comes around two months after the Egyptian security forces carried out the largest wave of mass arrests since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi rose to power.
The anti-government protests erupted last month in response to a call from businessman Mohamed Ali, a building contractor who posted a series of widely watched videos posted on Facebook and Twitter in which he accused President el-Sisi and his government of squandering millions of dollars on vanity projects despite rising poverty.
El-Sisi has denied all the allegations saying that he was honest and faithful to Egypt and the military. He also downplayed the protests calling them “no reason for concern”.
