Egypt
Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi—in power since June 2014—leads a country in a deepening human rights crisis where civil society faces harsh repression.
Egyptian state institutions have systematically banned protests and restricted freedom of expression and assembly. Despite their non-political nature, thousands have been arrested and unjustly charged with spreading false news for expressing their opinions in public. The state's grip on freedom of speech is increasing, especially with the current severe economic crisis.
Local authorities target non-governmental organisations; they seize NGOs through the powers of a new NGO law that prevents politically unwelcome organisations from operating. The Egyptian State monitors bank accounts, prevents funding from abroad, and makes it impossible to fundraise locally.
The Egyptian State detains independent activists and journalists. They are kept in pretrial detention for months or years without a right to a fair trial. Human rights defenders have been maltreated, charged with offences under draconian laws, banned from travelling, and had their assets frozen. Governmental physical and mental torture is widespread in prisons, and the newly opened Badr prison is no exception.
Our activities
We work with non-governmental organisations, initiatives, and grassroots activists in Egypt to promote human rights. Recently, our efforts have focused primarily on providing legal aid for human rights defenders, journalists, and women facing domestic and labour violence. Through our programme, lawyers, journalists, and other representatives from civil society are trained to defend human rights in their work. We are providing mental health support to enhance their resiliency. We also organise a fellowship for emerging leaders from the civil society. We support those who are at imminent risk of being detained or families whose providers are imprisoned.
We share awareness about the situation in the country through advocacy activities and cooperation with One World Film Festival and One World at Schools, where we raise awareness among the Czech public.
