Press release
Translated and edited by: Committee for Justice
Geneva: October 28, 2021
Members of the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee have expressed their deep concern about the human rights situation and prison conditions in Egypt, in the midst of the ongoing crackdown by the Egyptian authorities against human rights defenders there.
The prevalence of impunity is a concern:
Members of the Committee had discussed in a meeting last Wednesday morning the alarming situation of human rights and the ongoing repression of civil society in Egypt. The Executive Director of the Committee for Justice, Ahmed Mefreh participated in the session. along with the sister of the prominent Egyptian human rights defender Alaa Abdel Fattah, Mona Seif, and the parents of the Italian researcher who died in Egypt as a result of torture, Giulio Regeni, Claudio Regeni, and Paola Devendi.
The committee members reiterated their concern about the appalling conditions faced by human rights defenders imprisoned in Egypt, noting that the spread of impunity for Egyptian officials implicated in grave violations of fundamental freedoms is also a major concern.
Disappointment with the European position:
The members of the committee also expressed their deep disappointment due to the European Union’s notable failure in dealing with the Egyptian authorities to improve the human rights situation in the country, expressing regret for the choice taken by many EU countries to pursue relations with the government of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, for security, economic, and political reasons.
Some MEPs urged the EU to follow through on the Parliament’s decision to halt all exports to the country of arms, surveillance technology and other security equipment that could facilitate attacks on human rights defenders and civil society activists. Others also stressed that the EU should set clear standards for human rights to direct its partnership with the Egyptian authorities before any talks about a new era of bilateral relations begin.
Some members also lamented the Egyptian authorities’ lack of political will to provide support and clarity on a wide range of documented human rights issues, including the 2016 murder of Italian researcher Giulio Regeni, calling on all EU countries to jointly pressure the country’s government to ensure that the four main suspects in the Regeni case receive a fair trial in Italy.
Some of them also called for an urgent decision on Egypt to be put forward at the next plenary session of Strasbourg.
