Rights groups condemn Egypt’s travel bans on activists

Egypt’s rights groups have denounced the “increasingly excessive and arbitrary” travel bans against activists, academics, media and political opposition personalities over the last two years.

The Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released a 45-page report yesterday documenting the 80 cases of people banned from traveling over a two year period from June 2014 to September 2016.

The report described the multiple travel bans as an “unconstitutional form of political retaliation and psychological harassment”.  Around 47.5 per cent of those forced to endure travel bans are human rights advocates.

The report details testimonies from dozens of individuals subjected to the bans who were only informed of the ban after they reached the airport and were prevented from flying.

“The travel ban has been drastically distorted from a reasonable precautionary measure into an overreaching security tool grossly exploited to stifle political dissent,” the report read.

The report goes on to explain how the travel bans are one of the more repressive tools in Egypt with the sole intention of intimidating Egyptians.

The travel bans also include illegal interrogation and inspection as well as having their personal papers and passports confiscated which the report labelled as “unlawful practices and procedures.”

Under the Egyptian constitution, travel bans should be issued by a judicial body and a binding cause must be provided, with the interior minister overlooking the lists of persons banned from travel which if often in “clear contempt” of the constitution.

“While various security agencies issued the majority of bans discussed in this report – bans that contravene the constitution – the judicial bodies have also issued open-ended bans without stating grounds, informing the persons affected, or conducting an investigation,” the report explained.