The letter highlights the urgency of Abdelfattah’s case as he began a hunger strike in prison on March 1, 2025. His 69-year-old mother, Laila Soueif—a respected Egyptian professor—conducted a hunger strike for more than 150 days, which led to severe health deterioration and hospitalization. 

On March 4, CPJ led another joint letter, signed by 50 prominent human rights leaders, Nobel Prize laureates, writers, and public figures, calling on Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi to grant a presidential pardon to Abd El Fattah.

Read the full letter in here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

“The blocking of Zawia3 is yet another example of Egyptian authorities arbitrarily censoring media without legal justification, using technology to suppress journalism and restrict Egyptians’ access to information,” said CPJ Program Director Carlos Martinez de la Serna. “Targeting a media outlet based abroad is a clear act of transnational repression. Egypt’s telecommunications service providers should recognize that their services are being weaponized to silence independent media.”

In a statement posted online, Zawia3 said it noticed network disruptions on February 15, with independent experts confirming on February 19 that the outlet’s site had been blocked in Egypt by an “unknown entity.” According to Zawia3, the blocking was executed using a “reset attack,” which disrupts connections.

Ahmed Gamal Ziada, editor-in-chief of Zawia3 and a Brussels-based Egyptian journalist, told CPJ, “We are conducting investigative journalism on Egypt, and independent investigative reporting is not welcomed by those who fail to understand its role in exposing corruption and promoting accountability.”

Egyptian authorities under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi have used various transnational repression tactics to target journalists and human rights defenders. In August 2023, Ziada’s father was arrested in Egypt and questioned about his son’s journalism during interrogations. He was later released in September 2023 after being accused of using social media to spread false information.

Egypt has a history of blocking independent media, blocking Egyptian news site Cairo 24 in November 2024.

CPJ emailed Egypt’s Supreme Council for Media Regulation for comment on Zawia3 but did not receive any reply.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by CPJ Staff.

As an armed conflict between Sudan's military and a paramilitary group intensifies in the capital Khartoum and surrounding areas, Amnesty International on Monday implored the warring factions to protect civilians and ensure access to humanitarian aid.

Since fighting erupted between the Sudanese Armed Forces (SAF) and the paramilitary Rapid Support Forces (RSF) on Saturday, more than 180 people have been killed and over 1,800 people have been wounded, U.N Newsreported Monday, citing United Nations envoy Volker Perthes.

"The toll could be much higher because there are many bodies in the streets around central Khartoum that no one can reach because of the clashes," The Associated Pressreported. "There has been no official word on how many civilians or combatants have been killed. The [Sudan Doctors' Syndicate] earlier put the number of civilian deaths at 97."

Tigere Chagutah, Amnesty's regional director for East and Southern Africa, said in a statement that "the use of heavy weaponry including artillery, tanks, and jet aircraft in densely populated areas in Khartoum has caused numerous civilian deaths and massive destruction of property."

"Civilians are caught in the middle of this conflict and are suffering," said Chagutah. "The parties to the conflict must immediately stop using explosive weapons with wide area effects in the vicinity of concentrations of civilians."

"Sudan's regional and international partners including the Intergovernmental Authority on Development (IGAD), African Union, U.N., and others should publicly encourage that the parties to the conflict respect international humanitarian law and protect civilians," Chagutah continued. "Both parties must immediately stop their indiscriminate attacks."

He added that "Sudan's authorities and all parties to the conflict must ensure that there is immediate, unrestricted, and sustained access for humanitarian actors to monitor and assess the needs of civilians and to deliver assistance to them."

Combat broke out this past weekend following weeks of tensions between SAF commander Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, chair of Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council, and RSF commander Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or "Hemedti," the council's deputy chair.

The former allies joined forces to take control of Sudan in October 2021, two years after a 2019 military coup that came on the heels of a popular uprising ousted Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled Africa's third-largest country since leading the 1989 overthrow of a democratically elected government. But during recent negotiations for a new transitional government, a dispute arose over security force reform, turning al-Burhan and Dagalo—both of whom have extensive records of human rights abuses, including the brutal repression of pro-democracy activists—into rivals.

"The sudden explosion of violence over the weekend between the nation's two top generals, each backed by tens of thousands of fighters, trapped millions of people in their homes or wherever they could find shelter, with supplies running low in many areas," AP reported. "Even in a country with a long history of military coups, the scenes of fighting in the capital and its adjoining city Omdurman across the Nile River were unprecedented."

Amnesty on Monday urged the U.N. Security Council "to hold an emergency meeting on the situation in Sudan and publicly call on the SAF and RSF to protect civilians as a matter of priority."

According to AP, the council is "set to discuss the crisis" after "top diplomats on four continents scrambled to broker a truce."

Fears of a wider conflagration are mounting as the deadly power struggle spreads "across the sprawling western region of Darfur, where Mr. al-Bashir's government oversaw a campaign of genocidal violence beginning in 2003," The New York Times reported Sunday. "Reports of clashes in the region's major cities and several other towns are especially worrisome because Darfur is home to several heavily armed rebel groups that analysts fear could get sucked into the fight."

A third of Sudan's population—roughly 15 million people—suffer from hunger and rely on humanitarian assistance. However, the U.N.'s World Food Program was forced to halt operations in the country after three aid workers were killed and two others injured in Darfur on Saturday. In addition, the International Rescue Committee and Save the Children have both suspended most operations in the country.

Meanwhile, 12 out of around 20 hospitals in the capital area "have been 'forcefully evacuated' and are 'out of service' because of attacks or power outages," AP reported Monday, citing the Sudan Doctors' Syndicate. "Four other hospitals outside the capital have also shut down."

Citing the World Health Organization, U.N. News noted that "many of the nine hospitals in Khartoum receiving injured civilians are reporting shortages of blood, transfusion equipment, intravenous fluids, medical supplies, and other lifesaving commodities."

In a Monday address, U.N. Secretary-General António Guterres lamented that the country's "already precarious" humanitarian situation "is now catastrophic."

"I strongly condemn the outbreak of fighting that is taking place in Sudan, and appeal to the leaders of the Sudanese Armed Forces and the Rapid Support Forces to immediately cease hostilities, restore calm, and begin a dialogue to resolve the crisis," said Guterres.

"The situation has already led to horrendous loss of life, including many civilians," the U.N. chief added. "Any further escalation could be devastating for the country and the region. I urge all those with influence over the situation to use it in the cause of peace; to support efforts to end the violence, restore order, and return to the path of transition."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Kenny Stancil.

World leaders are advocating for a cease-fire in Sudan, where fighting between the African nation's military and a paramilitary group throughout the weekend—much of it in the capital, Khartoum—has left dozens of people dead and hundreds more injured.

"The battles have not stopped," Tahani Abass, a prominent rights advocate who lives near the military headquarters, toldThe Associated Press. "They are shooting against each other in the streets. It's an all-out war in residential areas."

Explaining how her family spent Saturday night huddled on the ground floor of their home, Abass added that "no one was able to sleep and the kids were crying and screaming with every explosion."

Over 50 civilians have been killed and nearly 600 people have been injured, the AP reported, citing the Sudan Doctors' Syndicate.

Sudan's current crisis began with massive street protests in 2018, which led to a military coup d'état the following year that ousted Omar al-Bashir, who had ruled for three decades after leading the 1989 overthrow of a democratically elected government. In October 2021, two top generals came together to seize control of the country.

The fighting that began Saturday is part of a power struggle between the formerly allied generals: Abdel Fattah al-Burhan, who heads Sudan's Transitional Sovereign Council and the Sudanese Armed Forces, and Mohamed Hamdan Dagalo, or "Hemedti," the council's deputy and commander of the Rapid Support Forces (RSF).

A spokesperson for United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres said Saturday that he "strongly condemns the outbreak of fighting" and "calls on the leaders of the Rapid Support Forces and the Sudanese Armed Forces to immediately cease hostilities, restore calm, and initiate a dialogue to resolve the current crisis."

"Any further escalation in the fighting will have a devastating impact on civilians and further aggravate the already precarious humanitarian situation in the country," the spokesperson warned, adding that the U.N. chief also "calls on member states in the region to support efforts to restore order and return to the path of transition."

The League of Arab States held an emergency meeting Sunday at the request of Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Al Arabiya Englishreported that the group called for a cease-fire and peaceful negotiations to "establish a new phase that fulfills the ambitions of the brotherly Sudanese people and contributes to reinforce political and economic security and stability in this important country."

According to the news outlet:

During a televised speech, Sudan's representative to the Arab League, Alsadik Omar Abdullah, appealed for Arab support to help calm the situation, while emphasizing that external interference in local affairs should be avoided.

"The Sudanese government has declared it a rebel force to be treated as such," he said, adding that efforts to mediate the integration of RSF into the Army have failed.

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Saturday that he spoke with the Saudi and Emirati foreign ministers about the fighting, "which threatens the security and safety of Sudanese civilians and undermines efforts to restore Sudan's democratic transition," and they all "agreed it was essential for the parties to immediately end hostilities without precondition."

Blinken urged al-Burhan and Dagalo "to take active measures to reduce tensions and ensure the safety of all civilians," stressing that "the only way forward is to return to negotiations that support the Sudanese people's democratic aspirations."

Along with the United States, Reutersnoted, "China, Russia, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the U.N. Security Council, European Union, and African Union have appealed for a quick end to the hostilities that threaten to worsen instability in an already volatile wider region."

As The New York Times detailed:

There were signs that fighting was spreading across the sprawling western region of Darfur, where Mr. al-Bashir's government oversaw a campaign of genocidal violence beginning in 2003. Reports of clashes in the region's major cities and several other towns are especially worrisome because Darfur is home to several heavily armed rebel groups that analysts fear could get sucked into the fight.

Adam Regal, a spokesperson for the aid agency General Coordination for Refugees and Displaced in Darfur, told the Times that a dozen people were killed and wounded Saturday in a camp for displaced people in the North Darfur region.

"The security situation, in my estimation, is difficult and dangerous," Regal said in a text message, referencing clashes in the cities of El Fasher in North Darfur, Zalingei in Central Darfur, Nyala in South Darfur.

Cindy McCain, executive director of the World Food Program, which is part of the United Nations, said Sunday that "I am appalled and heartbroken by the tragic deaths of three WFP employees on Saturday... in Kabkabiya, North Darfur while carrying out their lifesaving duties on the frontlines of the global hunger crisis. Two WFP employees were also injured in the same incident."

After noting that a U.N. aircraft was "significantly damaged" in Khartoum Saturday, "seriously impacting WFP's ability to move humanitarian workers and aid within the country," McCain announced that "while we review the evolving security situation, we are forced to temporarily halt all operations in Sudan. WFP is committed to assisting the Sudanese people facing dire food insecurity, but we cannot do our lifesaving work if the safety and security of our teams and partners is not guaranteed."

The U.N. chief "remains deeply concerned about the continued clashes" and "strongly condemns the deaths and injuries of civilians," including the WFP staff, his spokesperson said Sunday, declaring that "those responsible should be brought to justice without delay."

"The secretary-general reminds the parties of the need to respect international law, including the obligation to ensure the safety and security of all United Nations and associated personnel, their premises, and their assets," the spokesperson continued, adding that Guterres "reiterates his call for the immediate halt to the fighting and for a return to dialogue."

Volker Perthes, the U.N. envoy for Sudan, confirmed Sunday that al-Burhan and Dagalo had committed to "a temporary pause in fighting on humanitarian grounds" for three hours in the evening. However, the AP reported that in Khartoum, "as night fell, residents reported heavy explosions and continued gunfire."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams and was authored by Jessica Corbett.

Relatives of Alaa Abd El Fattah said Monday that they've received proof in the form of a letter that the jailed, hunger-striking Egyptian-British dissident is alive.

"I'm so relieved. We just got a note from prison to my mother, Alaa is alive, he says he's drinking water again."

"How are you, Mama? I'm sure you're really worried about me," El Fattah's letter, which is dated November 12, begins. "From today I'm drinking water again so you can stop worrying until you see me yourself. Vital signs today are OK. I'm measuring regularly and receiving medical attention."

The 40-year-old father—who according to Egyptian authorities received a "medical intervention" last week—promises to write again and asks his mother to bring him an MP3 player and vitamins when she is able to visit.

Sanaa Seif, El Fattah's sister, tweeted: "I'm so relieved. We just got a note from prison to my mother, Alaa is alive, he says he's drinking water again... He says he'll say more as soon as he can. It's definitely his handwriting. Proof of life, at last."

"Today is the first day I've been able to take a proper breath in eight days," Seif told the BBC. "Now we know he's alive. I'd know his handwriting anywhere. But when I read [the letter] again and again it leaves me with more questions. Why have they been refusing his lawyer access to him, even with a permit?  Why did they hold this letter back from us for two days? Is it just cruelty to punish the family for speaking up?"

Khaled Ali, an attorney representing El Fattah's family, said on Facebook Monday that Alaa also wrote in the letter that he was "fine and under medical supervision."

El Fattah has been imprisoned for most of the past decade for his activism. He played a prominent role in the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East in the early 2010s and is currently serving a five-year sentence for allegedly disseminating "false news undermining national security," a common charge used to silence activists in the Middle Eastern country run by authoritarian President Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

Subjected to torture by beating, solitary confinement, and other methods, El Fattah began his hunger strike 206 days ago on April 2. Earlier this month—with his health already dangerously deteriorated—he stopped drinking water as world leaders, activists, and others gathered in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt for the United Nations Climate Change Conference, or COP27.

World leaders, human rights groups, Nobel laureates, climate activists, and others have called for the release of El Fattah and the tens of thousands of other political prisoners jailed in Egypt. Demonstrations in Egypt, Britain, the United States, and elsewhere have demanded the dissident's immediate release.

In a Monday interview with Times Radio, U.K. Foreign Secretary James Cleverly said he was keeping "a very, very close eye on this case."

"What we will do," he said, "is we will keep working to secure consular access because he is British dual national and that is what we expect and we'll keep pushing to get resolution on this long standing and very difficult case."

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

German Chancellor Olaf Scholz and Swedish climate campaigner Greta Thunberg on Tuesday joined the growing chorus of calls demanding that United Nations Climate Change Conference host Egypt release hunger-striking political prisoner Alaa Abd El Fattah.

"Human rights and climate movements are stronger when we stand in solidarity together."

El Fattah, who is Egyptian-British, has been jailed almost continuously for the past decade for his activism, especially his prominent role in the Arab Spring pro-democracy uprisings that swept the Middle East in the early 2010s. He is currently serving a five-year sentence after being convicted of spreading "false news undermining national security," a common charge against activists in Egypt.

El Fattah's health has dangerously deteriorated as a result of the hunger strike he's been on since April 2 to protest the torture—including brutal beatings and solitary confinement—and other abuses he says he's endured at the hands of authoritarian President Gen. Abdel Fattah el-Sisi's forces. 

"It is depressing to see that human life is at risk," Scholz told reporters in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt on Tuesday. "A decision needs to be taken, a release has to be made possible so that it doesn't come to it that the hunger striker dies."

Referring to the U.N. climate conference, Thunberg wrote on Twitter that "during COP27, we urge the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release all those held simply for peacefully exercising their human rights, implementing criteria set by local NGOs for these releases: fairness, transparency, inclusiveness, and urgency. One of these prisoners is Alaa Abd El Fattah."

"A system that doesn't address the needs for climate justice and securing human rights is a system that has failed everyone—we need to keep both in mind," the 19-year-old Fridays for Future founder added. "Human rights and climate movements are stronger when we stand in solidarity together. There is no climate justice without social justice and human rights."

On Tuesday, Amr Darwish, an Egyptian lawmaker with close ties to el-Sisi, confronted El Fattah's sister, Sanaa Seif, as she spoke at a press briefing, accusing her of "inciting foreign countries to put pressure on Egypt" before being escorted away by security.

Human rights groups have sounded the alarm in recent months over the Egyptian government's persecution of climate activists, as well as voicing concerns that the official app being used at COP27 could be exploited to spy on environmentalists and other dissidents.

This content originally appeared on Common Dreams - Breaking News & Views for the Progressive Community and was authored by Brett Wilkins.

The global climate meeting called COP27 (the 27th Conference of Parties) will be held in the remote Egyptian desert resort of Sharm El-Sheik, Egypt from November 6-18. Given the extremely repressive nature of the Egyptian government, this gathering will likely be different from others, where there have been large, raucous protests led by civil society groups.

So as tens of thousands of delegates – from world leaders to climate activists and journalists – descend on Sharm el-Sheik from all over the world, we asked Egyptian Journalist Sharif Abdel Kouddous to give us his thoughts about the state of Egypt today, including the situation of political prisoners, and how he expects the Egyptian government will act with the eyes of the world upon it.

Medea Benjamin:  For those who don’t know or have forgotten, can you give us a quick overview of the nature of the present government in Egypt today? 

Sharif Abdel Kouddous: The 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak, an uprising that was part of what has been called the Arab Spring, was very inspiring and had reverberations around the world, from the Occupy Movement in the United States to the Indignados in Spain. But that revolution was crushed in a very brutal way in 2013 by the military, led by General Abdel Fattah al Sisi–who later became president.

Right now, Egypt is ruled by a very tight and closed clique of military and intelligence officers, a circle that is completely opaque. Its decision-making process does not allow for any political participation and it does not brook any kind of dissent or opposition. It seems that the government’s answer to any problems with its citizens is to put them in prison.

There are literally tens of thousands of political prisoners in Egypt right now. We don’t know the exact number because there are no official statistics and this forces lawyers and the very harassed human rights groups to try to painstakingly tabulate the thousands of people who are trapped behind bars.

Over the past few years, we’ve seen Egypt build several new prisons. Just last year Sisi oversaw the opening of the Wadi al-Natrun prison complex. It’s not called a prison complex, it’s called a “rehabilitation center.” This is one of seven or eight new prisons that Sisi himself has dubbed “American-style prisons.”

These prison complexes include within them the courts and judicial buildings, so it makes a conveyor belt from the courthouse to the prison more efficient.

MB: What is the status of this massive group of political prisoners? 

SAK: The majority of political prisoners in Egypt are held in what is called “pre-trial detention.” Under Egypt’s penal code, you can be held in prison for two years without ever being convicted of a crime. Nearly everyone held in pre-trial detention faces two identical charges: one is spreading false information and the other is belonging to a terrorist organization or an outlawed organization.

The prison conditions are very dire. If you get sick, you are in big trouble. There have been a lot of deaths from medical negligence, with prisoners dying in custody. Torture and other forms of abuse by security forces is widespread.

We’ve also seen the number of death sentences and executions skyrocket. Under the former President Mubarak, in his final decade in office, there was a de facto moratorium on executions. There were death sentences handed down but people were not being put to death. Now Egypt ranks third in the world in the number of executions.

MB: What about other freedoms, such as freedom of assembly and freedom of the press?

SAK: Basically, the regime sees its citizens as a nuisance or a threat. All forms of protest or public assembly are banned.

Alleged violations carry very stiff prison sentences. We’ve seen mass arrests sweeps happen whenever there’s any kind of public demonstration and we’ve also seen an unprecedented crackdown on civil society, with human rights organizations and economic justice organizations being forced to scale back their operations or basically operate underground.The people who work for them are subject to intimidation and harassment and travel bans and arrests.

We’ve also seen a massive crackdown on press freedom, a nearly complete takeover of the media landscape. Under Mubarak’s government, there was at least some opposition press, including some opposition newspapers and TV stations. But now the government very tightly controls the press through censorship and also through acquisition. The General Intelligence Services, which is the intelligence apparatus of the military, has become the largest media owner of the country. They own newspapers and TV channels. Independent media, such as the one I work for called Mada Masr, operate on the margins in a very, very hostile environment.

Egypt is the third largest jailer of journalists in the world and imprisons more journalists on charges of spreading false news than any other country in the world.

MB: Can you talk about the case of Alaa Abd El-Fattah, who is probably Egypt’s most famous political prisoner?

SAK: Alaa has been behind bars for much of the last decade. He is in prison ostensibly for the crime of “spreading false news,” but he is really in prison for these ideas, for being an icon and a symbol of the 2011 revolution. For the regime, imprisoning him was a way to set an example for everyone else. That’s why there has been so much campaigning to get him out.

He has been in prison under very, very difficult conditions. For two years he wasn’t allowed out of his cell and didn’t even have a mattress to sleep on. He was completely deprived of everything, including books or reading materials of any kind. For the first time, he started expressing suicidal thoughts.

But on April 2 he decided to go on a hunger strike as an act of resistance against his imprisonment. He has been on a hunger strike for seven months now. He started with just water and salt, which is a kind of hunger strike that Egyptians learned from Palestinians. Then in May, he decided to go on a Gandhi-style strike and ingest 100 calories a day–which is a spoonful of honey in some tea. An average adult needs 2,000 calories a day, so it’s very meager.

But he just sent a letter to his family saying that he was going back to a full hunger strike and on November 6, on the eve of the COP meeting, he’s going to stop drinking water. This is extremely serious because the body cannot last without water for more than a few days.

So he is calling on all of us on the outside to organize, because either he will die in prison or he will be released. What he is doing is incredibly brave. He is using his body, the only thing he has agency over, to organize and to push us on the outside to do more.

MB: How do these repressed civil society leaders view the fact that Egypt is playing host to COP27?

SAK: It was very disheartening for a lot of people in Egypt who work for human rights and justice and democracy when Egypt was granted the right to host the conference. But Egyptian civil society has not called on the international community to boycott the COP meeting; they have called for the plight of political prisoners and the lack of human rights to be linked to the climate discussions and not ignored.

They want a spotlight to be placed on the thousands of political prisoners like Alaa, like Abdel Moneim Aboul Foitouh, a former presidential candidate, like Mohamed Oxygen, a blogger, like Marwa Arafa, who is an activist from Alexandria.

Unfortunately, hosting this meeting has given the government a great opportunity to remake its image. It has allowed the government to try to position itself as the voice for the Global South and the negotiator trying to unlock billions of dollars a year in climate financing from the Global North.

Of course the issue of climate reparations to the Global South is very important. It needs to be discussed and taken seriously. But how can you give climate reparations to a country like Egypt when you know the money will mostly be spent on bolstering this repressive, polluting state? As Naomi Klein said in her great article Greenwashing a Police State, the summit is going beyond greenwashing a polluting state to greenwashing a police state.

MB: So what do you think we can expect to see in Sharm el-Sheikh? Will the usual protests that happen at every COP, both inside and outside the official halls, be allowed? 

SAK: I think what we are going to see in Sharm el-Sheik is a carefully managed theater. We all know the problems with the UN Climate Summits. There are a lot of negotiations and climate diplomacy, but rarely do they amount to anything concrete and binding. But they do serve as an important place for networking and convergence for different groups in the climate justice movement, an opportunity for them to come together to organize. It has also been a time for these groups to show their opposition to the inaction by those in power, with creative, vigorous protests both inside and outside the conference.

This will not be the case this year. Sharm El-Sheikh is a resort in Sinai that literally has a wall around it. It can and will be very tightly controlled. From what we understand, there is a special space that has been designated for protests that has been built out near a highway, far away from the conference center and any signs of life. So how effective will it be to hold protests there?

This is why people like Greta Thunberg are not going. Many activists have problems with the structure of the COP itself but it is even worse in Egypt where the ability to use it as a convergence space for dissent will be effectively shut down.

But more importantly, the members of Egyptian civil society, including the allies and environmental groups that are critical of the government, will not be allowed to attend. In a departure from UN rules, those groups that manage to participate will have been vetted and approved by the government and will have to be very careful about how they operate. Other Egyptians who should be there are unfortunately in prison or are subject to various forms of repression and harassment.

MB: Should foreigners also worry about the Egyptian government surveilling them?

SAK: The entire conference will be very highly surveilled. The government created this app that you can download to use as a guide for the conference. But to do that, you have to put in your full name, phone number, email address, passport number and nationality, and you have to enable location tracking. Amnesty International technology specialists have reviewed the app and flagged all these concerns about surveillance and how the app can use the camera and microphone and location data and bluetooth.

MB: What environmental issues related to Egypt will the government allow to be discussed, and what will be off limits?

SAK: Environmental issues that will be allowed are issues such as trash collection, recycling, renewable energy and climate finance, which is a big issue for Egypt and for the Global South.

Environmental issues that implicate the government and military will not be tolerated. Take the issue of coal–something the environmental community is very critical of. That will be off limits because coal imports, much of it coming from the United States, have risen over the past several years, driven by the strong demand from the cement sector. Egypt’s largest importer of coal is also the largest cement producer, and that’s the El-Arish Cement Company that was built in 2016 by none other than the Egyptian military.

We’ve seen massive amounts of cement poured into Egypt’s natural environment over the past several years. The government has built nearly 1,000 bridges and tunnels, destroying acres and acres of green space and cutting down thousands of trees. They have gone on a crazy construction spree, building a slew of new neighborhoods and cities, including a new administrative capital in the desert just outside of Cairo. But no criticism of these projects has been or will be tolerated.

Then there is dirty energy production. Egypt, Africa’s second largest gas producer, is scaling up its oil and gas production and exports, which will mean further profits for the military and intelligence sectors involved in this. These projects that are harmful to the environment but profitable for the military will be off the agenda.

The Egyptian military is entrenched in every part of the Egyptian state. Military owned enterprises produce everything from fertilizers to baby food to cement. They operate hotels; they are the largest owner of land in Egypt. So any kind of industrial pollution or environmental harm from areas such as construction, tourism, development and agribusiness will not be tolerated at COP.

MB: We have heard that the crackdown on Egyptians in anticipation of this global gathering has already begun. Is that true? 

SAK: Yes, we’ve already seen an intensified crackdown and a massive arrest sweep in the run-up to the climate summit. There are arbitrary stop and searches, and random security checkpoints. They open your facebook and whatsapp and they look through it. If they find content that they find problematic, they arrest you.

Hundreds of people have been arrested, by some counts 500-600. They have been arrested from their homes, off the streets, from their workplaces.

And these searches and arrests are not restricted just to Egyptians. The other day there was an Indian climate activist, Ajit Rajagopal, was arrested shortly after setting off on an 8-day walk from Cairo to Sharm el-Sheikh as part of a global campaign to raise awareness about the climate crisis.

He was detained in Cairo, questioned for hours and held overnight. He called an Egyptian lawyer friend, who came to the police station to help him. They detained the lawyer as well, and held him overnight.

MB: There have been calls for protests on November 11, or 11/11. Do you think people in Egypt will come out on the streets? 

SAK: It is unclear where these protest calls started but I think it was started by people outside Egypt. I would be surprised if people come out on the streets given the level of repression we’ve been seeing these days but you never know.

The security apparatus was very surprised in September 2019 when a former military contractor turned whistleblower exposed videos showing army corruption. These videos went viral. The whistleblower called for protests but he was outside Egypt in self-imposed exile in Spain.

There were some protests, not very big but significant. And what was the government response? Massive arrests, the most massive sweep since Sisi came to power with over 4,000 people detained. They arrested all kinds of people–everyone who had been arrested before and a lot of other people. With that kind of repression, it’s hard to say if mobilizing people to go to the streets is the right thing to do.

The government is also particularly paranoid because the economic situation is so bad. The Egyptian currency has lost 30 percent of its value since the beginning of the year, precipitated by a variety of factors, including the war in Ukraine, since Egypt was getting so much of its wheat from Ukraine. Inflation is out of control. People are getting poorer and poorer. So that, combined with these calls for protests, have prompted the preemptive crackdown.

So I don’t know if people will defy the government and go out into the streets. But I gave up trying to predict anything in Egypt a long time ago. You just never know what is going to happen.

This content originally appeared on Dissident Voice and was authored by Medea Benjamin.

Fifteen Nobel Prize winners called on world leaders visiting Egypt next week for the United Nations’ COP27 climate talks in Sharm el-Sheikh to demand freedom for political prisoners, “most urgently, the Egyptian-British writer and philosopher, Alaa Abd El Fattah, now six months into a hunger strike and at risk of death.”

In a letter sent on Wednesday to heads of state and climate envoys due to speak at the climate conference, the Nobel laureates urged them “to bring the voices of the unjustly imprisoned into the room,” by speaking their names and reading from Abd El Fattah’s writing.

Abd El Fattah, a jailed writer and activist whose calls for democratic change in Egypt have frightened four successive authoritarian governments into prosecuting him for just attending protests or posting critical comments online, has been on a “Gandhi-style” hunger strike since April, consuming only 100 calories a day. His activist sisters, Sanaa Seif and Mona Seif, revealed this week that he plans to stop drinking water on Sunday, when COP27 begins.

Alaa Abd El Fattah’s sisters, Mona Seif, left, and Sanaa Seif, right, with climate activists Greta Thunberg and Andreas Magnusson at sit-in outside the U.K. Foreign Office on Oct. 30, 2022, in London.

Photo: Hollie Adams/Getty Images

This content originally appeared on The Intercept and was authored by Robert Mackey.

The letter is addressed to German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock and State Secretary and Special Envoy for International Climate Action Jennifer Morgan, who are scheduled to co-chair the Petersberg Climate Dialogue with el-Sisi on July 18 and 19.

The signatories urge Baerbock and Morgan to press el-Sisi to release all individuals arbitrarily detained in Egypt for their journalism, to unblock all censored news websites, and to ensure that the rights of press freedom, freedom of expression, peaceful assembly, and association are protected.

The letter notes that such reforms are particularly vital ahead of the COP27 U.N. summit on climate change, scheduled to be held in the Egyptian city of Sharm el-Sheikh in November.

The letter also called for the release of jailed blogger and journalist Alaa Abdelfattah, who has been on hunger strike for over 100 days to protest the dire conditions of his imprisonment. As of December 1, 2021, at least 25 journalists were imprisoned in Egypt, making it the third worst jailer of journalists in the world.

The full letter can be read here.

This content originally appeared on Committee to Protect Journalists and was authored by Erik Crouch.