Why Does el-Sisi Not Prevent Violations Against the Egyptian People?

Western campaigns of anger against the human rights crimes of President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi continue in the most populous Arab country, in which more than 60,000 political detainees have been held, for more than 8 years, and  most of them are Islamists

After days of sharp human rights criticism directed by the Egyptian political activist of Palestinian origin, Rami Shaath, at the European Parliament, the military regime ruling Cairo faced a new European criticism of its scandalous human rights file.

 

Control Mechanism

On January 3, 2022, 200 European parliamentarians signed a letter calling on the United Nations Human Rights Council to establish a "mechanism" to monitor and address the ongoing human rights crisis since the military coup led by el-Sisi on July 3, 2013, against the late president Mohamed Morsi.

The letter, signed by deputies from all over the old continent, called on the council to take "firm measures" before its session scheduled for March 2022, according to Middle East Eye.

The letter blamed the international community for its silence towards the human rights crisis in the Arab world's largest demographic country with 105 million people, accusing it of "the continuous failure to take any meaningful action to address the crisis."

"This failure, along with the Egyptian government's continued support and reluctance to speak out against the rampant abuses, has deepened the Egyptian authorities' sense of impunity," according to the same source.

European MPs also condemned the el-Sisi government's announcement of a "human rights strategy" in September 2021, describing it as an "attempt to whitewash its bad human rights register."

They said that the strategy was drafted in a non-transparent manner and without consulting independent human rights organizations, and ignored the crimes of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and torture in detention, without specifying concrete steps to condemn those responsible.

In his vision of the possibility of establishing an international human rights monitoring mechanism in Egypt, human rights defender Mohamed Zarei says that "the number of European parliamentarians from different countries who signed the proposal, are urging their governments to make an effort to stop human rights violations in Egypt; this is not the first time.”

He asserts to Al-Estiklal that "dozens of times, governments, parliamentarians, and non-governmental organizations have made observations, which Egypt has met with denunciation."

The head of the Arab Organization for Penal Reform sees that "working on this file through parliamentarians and directing them a message to legalize a monitoring mechanism comes in light of the already existing UN monitoring mechanism, and regular sessions at the United Nations," explaining that "Egypt has a review session in 2023 and 2024."

In his appreciation of the possible formulation of this mechanism, its components, and its possible roles, he stressed that "this is an optional and non-mandatory mechanism, and states are free to deal with or reject it, and its role does not go beyond urging states to respect human rights and change repressive policies."

“If another mechanism is established other than the one through the United Nations Human Rights Council, such as choosing a committee to follow up on the Egyptian situation, traveling to Cairo to observe on the ground, or sending special rapporteurs, this must be done in consultation with the approval of the Egyptian government,” Zarei adds.

 

Sisi's Maneuver

In his vision of how these mechanisms carry out their mission amid the overreach of the el-Sisi regime, Zarei believes that "these mechanisms will not have a chance of acceptance and success, and the state may deal with the demands of other countries or justify their situation, as el-Sisi has repeatedly done."

He points out that el-Sisi said in several messages to Europe: “We are other than you, and the human rights file in Egypt is different from Europe, and our priorities are different,” as well as his justification of “the existing situation or questioning the critical reports,” adding: “Therefore, I do not think that this mechanism would be given, if it was established, a great result in the case of Egypt.”

“This does not mean that there is no hope for the end, because there is no regime that continues to the end to use the means of repression all the time with peoples,” according to Zarei.

He added: "But the danger of this policy is that its consequences are dire for the stability of the country, with the spread of violence and radical ideas due to the failure to comply with human rights requirements. Therefore, there are problems that will occur in the future."

On the mechanism, European Union spokesman Peter Stano told Middle East Eye on January 4, 2022, that "with the approach of the Human Rights Council session, intensifying efforts to establish a long-awaited mechanism for human rights monitoring and reporting in Egypt would be a good start."

Human Rights Watch lawyer Claudio Francavilla confirmed to the same website that the mechanism is long overdue, explaining that the deputies' letter "shows great support, even though their call is in stark contrast to the inaction of their governments."

He added that, "The letter presents a counter-narrative to the Cairo government's promotion of alleged improvements in human rights," stressing that "deliberate inaction by the international community and support for Sisi's rule of iron fist has encouraged the Egyptian government's sense of near-total impunity."

In the face of flagrant violations and continuous Western criticism, the Sisi regime sought to prevaricate and maneuver in the last months of 2021, by confronting American and European reports and demands with its human rights file.

Sisi announced the “National Human Rights Strategy” on September 11, 2021, and decided to stop the “emergency law” that had been in force for decades, in October 2021.

Sisi released some liberal political activists, including Ramy Shaath, the Egyptian-Italian researcher Patrick Zaki, and human rights defender Hossam Bahgat, along with Ola Al-Qaradawi, the daughter of Dr. Youssef Al-Qaradawi.

But these measures were followed by permanent violations of the rights of Egyptians, which prompted activists and local and international human rights organizations to criticize them and consider them a maneuver by el-Sisi.

 

Endless Criticism

Ramy Shaath, who was released from Egyptian prisons on January 3, 2022, in exchange for relinquishing his Egyptian citizenship, said in his speech before the European Parliament on the 26th of the same month that "Egypt is boiling from within, and the state has turned into a republic of fear."

Shaath, who spent 915 days in Sisi's prisons, stressed in his speech that "many human rights organizations in Egypt were forced to dissolve themselves for fear of persecution, travel bans, confiscation of their members' property and imprisonment."

In front of a group of European deputies, he revealed crimes of torture and humiliation to which detainees are subjected, pointing to the officers' violation of laws, the politicization of the judiciary and its submission to the directives of the regime.

He stressed that the security forces enjoy impunity for crimes under international law and grave violations of human rights, including extrajudicial killings, torture and enforced disappearances.

Shaath called on members of the European Parliament to adopt an effective stance against the Cairo regime and its grave violations against Egyptians, stressing that "60,000 are still imprisoned in repression without hope, unless we all act."

He said that "Egypt is boiling from within, and people are suffering from poverty and oppression," declaring to the deputies that "if you want long-term strategic relations with Egypt, you must first commit to work and defend freedom of opinion and expression and respect for human rights."

Following Shaath's speech, European Parliament member Mounir Satori addressed the need for the European Union to address the human rights situation in Egypt in a more consistent manner, according to what was reported by the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies.

His counterpart, Miguel Urban Crespo, criticized the joint agreement between the European Union and Egypt regarding the presidency of the "Global Counter-Terrorism Forum" of the United Nations, denouncing Shaath to give up his citizenship in exchange for his release.

These criticisms came in conjunction with the announcement by Egypt and the European Union on January 23, 2022, of their intention to run together in March 2022, to chair the Global Counter-Terrorism Forum, which includes 30 countries.

This prompted human rights groups to criticize the joint effort between Egypt and the European Union to head the Counter-Terrorism Service, succeeding Canada and Morocco.

Human Rights Watch called on the European Union on January 25 to "reconsider" the proposed partnership, citing widespread violations, repression, imprisonment, torture, and executions of opposition activists and politicians.

Amid Western pressure on the el-Sisi regime, America decided on January 28 to withhold $130 million in aid to Egypt due to human rights violations, but Washington, in return, approved the sale of weapons and equipment worth $2.5 billion to Cairo.

In the context of continuous criticism of Sisi's human rights file, the United Nations Special Procedures Authority for Human Rights said on January 3 that Egyptian activist Ahmed Mufreh is being harassed regarding his cooperation with the United Nations in the field of human rights, sending a message to Cairo.

 

Big Dilemma

In answering a question: Why does the succession of European criticism of Egypt's human rights file not push the regime to ease its security grip and solve the detainees' crisis? Jurist Mohammad Zarei believes that "the demands of activists such as Rami Shaath, and those from other nationalities who monitor and expose human rights violations, are not  internationally heard and do not produce a significant result."

He explains that "the West has its own interests, trade and joint projects with the Egyptian regime, arms deals, and the exchange of security and intelligence information.

Therefore, interests here are more important than human rights."

Perhaps countries will take measures such as America, which withheld $130 million in aid because of this file, but on the other hand, there is an American arms deal with Egypt with up to $2.5 billion. This means that there are strategic interests that overcome dissatisfaction with Egypt’s human rights file.

Zarei also asserts that "the human rights situation will not improve except with the role of the Egyptian people, not America, Europe, or el-Sisi himself, but when the people are convinced that they do not deserve these abuses and fight and struggle to improve their conditions in a humane manner and force rulers and officials to respect human rights."

He concludes by saying "Egypt has relations with other countries that support it, and it sends delegates in large numbers and quasi-governmental organizations to defend its file, and it has its strategy and tools, and it is able to deal with the international situation based on interest at the expense of human rights, and this is the dilemma.”

Tens of thousands of opponents of el-Sisi and those who reject his rule and supporters of the Muslim Brotherhood are in Egyptian prisons, while thousands of them have been subjected to enforced disappearance, torture and forced confessions that resulted in death and life sentences against them, while thousands fled outside the country.

The Arab Network for Human Rights Information, one of the oldest and most important human rights organizations, decided, after 18 years of work, to freeze its activities in Egypt for fear of its employees after they were repeatedly arrested, and the organization's headquarters were raided.

In this context, the Front for Defending the Independence of Lawyers monitored on January 31 the detention of 50 lawyers, at a time when Egypt ranks third in the world in repressing journalists.

These cases of arrests and enforced disappearances even got the Egyptians fleeing the security crackdown and the regime's oppression out of the country.

Egyptian authorities arrested activist Hossam el-Menoufy from Luxor Airport in southern Egypt, on January 12, following what was said to be an emergency landing of a plane coming from Sudan, where he has resided since 2016, heading to Turkey, while el-Menoufy was accused of enforced disappearance.

As a result of arrests and enforced disappearances, thousands of harsh sentences were issued against thousands of detainees, including execution, which made Egypt the third worst country in the world, after China and Iran, in the number of executions.

According to the Amnesty International report in 2020, October and November witnessed the execution of 57 Egyptians, including 49 in 10 days.

In the latest of these rulings, an Egyptian court on January 30, 2022, sentenced 10 members of the Muslim Brotherhood to death, in a politicized case, according to human rights advocates, which was preceded by hundreds of similar cases.