![]() The filled-out forms are sent to security agencies in Egypt to obtain their approval before processing any requests from the applicants.Ĭonsulate officials routinely informed applicants that security agencies in Egypt must approve all requests before the consulate would file them with the relevant authorities. The forms request exhaustive and unnecessary details that are not legally required to obtain a new passport. The forms required by the Egyptian Consulate in Istanbul. Interviewees said it only accepts requests for official documentation through its Facebook page, while requiring applicants for virtually all services to fill out extralegal, unofficial forms, which Human Rights Watch reviewed, requesting private details such as why they left Egypt and links to their social media accounts. Seventeen of them had some form of temporary or permanent residence permits, 3 have filed for asylum, 16 live with their spouses and children abroad, and family members of 10 were also denied documents.Įgyptian dissidents in Turkey have faced additional challenges because the Egyptian consulate in Istanbul has effectively closed its doors to Egyptians since around 2018. Human Rights Watch interviewed 26 Egyptian dissidents, journalists, and lawyers living in Turkey, Germany, Malaysia, an African country, Qatar, and another Gulf country from June to December 2022, and reviewed dozens of documents such as written correspondences, passports, and official forms relating to the cases of nine of those interviewed. “After sparing no effort to crush domestic opposition and public dissent through mass arrests, unfair trials, and rampant torture in detention, the government is ramping up efforts to punish and silence those abroad.” “The government of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi has been turning the screws on dissidents abroad by depriving them of essential identity documents,” said Adam Coogle, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at Human Rights Watch. It has effectively undermined their ability to travel, live, and work legally and sometimes jeopardized their ability to obtain essential medical care and educational services or reunite with other family members. The inability to obtain birth certificates or renew essential documents such as passports and ID cards has hampered access to basic rights for dissidents abroad and their dependent family members. The refusal is apparently intended to pressure them to return to near-certain persecution in Egypt. (Beirut) – The Egyptian authorities in recent years have systematically refused to provide or renew the identity documents of dozens of dissidents, journalists, and human rights activists living abroad, Human Rights Watch said today. Protesters hold banners and chant slogans during Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s official visit to Germany on July 18, 2022, in Berlin.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |