HRW: Egypt stops citizens from travel

Egypt has “unlawfully” prevented a large number of its citizens from leaving the country, placing “restrictive and intimidating measures” on them, Human Rights Watch said.

Amongst the new measures placed by the security agencies was the confiscation of passports, HRW said.

The organisation also said that leaders and members of political parties, youth activists, people associated with NGOs, and a former aide to ousted President Mohamed Morsi were denied from travel.

“Egyptian authorities should end these non-judicial restrictions, give citizens recourse to challenge travel bans, and return their passports,” the organisation said.

“The Egyptian authorities have jailed thousands of dissidents in the past two years and are now turning the country’s own borders into de facto prison walls,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East and North Africa director.

“The total lack of checks on the power of the National Security Agency (formerly named State Security Service) leaves citizens without recourse.”

A large number of the people, who were banned from travel, told HRW that they were stopped at passport control, interrogated by security agents and denied travel.

They were rarely informed about the reason they were banned and in most cases their passports were confiscated.

HRW said the reports and accounts from activists proved that security officers at the Cairo International Airport have “wide authority to require any citizen to obtain a security clearance to leave the country, no matter their destination or the purpose of their visit.”

The organisation said that it documented “at least 32 cases in which airport security officers confiscated the passport of political activists and workers in non-governmental groups and told them that national security agents ‘would call them’.”

It also said that “the majority have not been able to get their passports back.”