June 12, 2025
As of June 12, Egyptian authorities persist in their detention and deportation of dozens of activists from around the world taking part in the Global March to Gaza, a grassroots campaign to protest the Israeli genocide and starvation of Palestinians. The Campaign aimed to march from Egypt’s al-Arish to the Rafah border crossing to call for ending the blocking of desperately needed humanitarian aid to Gaza. This comes amid catastrophic conditions in Gaza, where about two million Palestinians face acute food insecurity, and entire populations are on the brink of famine due to the ongoing siege, destruction of farmland, and obstruction of aid. The Egyptian authorities’ decision to abort the March through detention and expulsion of international solidarity activists not only underscores its complicity in the blockade of Gaza but also reflects its broader policy of unrelenting crackdown on peaceful activism.
Since 2007, the Egyptian government has been Israel’s partner in transforming Gaza into an open-air prison through its closure of the Rafah border crossing. With the start of the Israeli war on Gaza in 2023 and the genocide against Palestinians living in the strip, Egyptian authorities immediately sought to turn the humanitarian catastrophe into profit. Through Ibrahim al-Organi, a tribal leader backed by President Abdelfattah al-Sisi and in control of several companies including ones where the military owns over 51% of the shares, Egyptian authorities charged Palestinians fleeing the conflict outrageous amounts of money (up to 10,000 USD per person) to allow them into Egypt. Even Egyptian citizens stuck in Gaza before the outbreak of the war were not spared having to bribe their own government to be allowed to leave Gaza. These policies clearly do not represent the Egyptian people. Since the beginning of the war, at least 150 Egyptian activists, including minors, who protested in solidarity with Palestine were arrested and remain detained to the present day, some of them facing unfounded terrorism charges like tens of thousands of other peaceful Egyptian political prisoners.
By blocking the Global March, the Egyptian authorities have merely extended the repression already faced by countless Egyptians who are routinely denied the right to peacefully express solidarity with Palestinians. For decades, Egypt’s authoritarian regimes have been a primary obstacle to such expressions of support. Under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, however, this repression has deepened and become more overt, marked by an increasingly unapologetic approach to silencing dissent. Egyptian authorities should immediately allow those wishing to peacefully express their opinions, be they foreign or Egyptian, to exercise that right, including through releasing its swelling population of prisoners of conscience and, among them, those who stand in solidarity with Palestinians.
Signatories:
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
- Egyptian Human Rights Forum
- El Nadeem Center
- Ankh Association
- Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
- Law and Democracy Support Foundation
- Refugees Platform in Egypt
- Committee for Justice
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Egypt wide
