Egypt: Security forces arrest climate activists – Nobel Prize winners appeal to the federal government

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Lettering for the COP27 at the congress center in Sharm El-Sheikh

Photo: Sayed Sheasha / REUTERS

Egypt wants to stage itself as a good host country at the UN climate conference COP27 - but is apparently continuing to counteract protests with a heavy hand internally.

As the Guardian reports, Indian climate activist Ajit Rajagopal was arrested while he was on his way from the capital Cairo as part of a multi-day protest march to the summit venue in the coastal town of Sharm el-Sheikh.

According to the report, Rajagopal was said to have been traveling alone and only with a small paper poster on which he called for climate justice.

He was arrested at a checkpoint because the action had apparently not been announced beforehand.

An acquaintance of the activist is said to have also been arrested.

According to the Guardian, non-governmental organizations had recently reported dozens of arrests in Cairo and other cities.

The strict line is apparently intended to prevent any protest before the summit, which officially starts next weekend.

The human rights lawyer Mai El-Sadany also rated the incident on Twitter as symbolic of Egypt's crackdown on critical voices.

She also published photos purporting to show Rajagopal with his protest poster.

The Egyptian human rights organization ECRF also condemned the arrests.

“Why has the Egyptian government applied to host the summit when security restrictions will prevent even the slightest expression of protest?” ECRF said in a statement.

The Egyptian government recently announced that protests could only take place in a designated area away from the conference center in Sharm el-Sheikh.

15 Nobel Prize winners appeal to the federal government

Several Nobel Prize winners, including this year's Nobel Prize for Literature, Annie Ernaux, are now appealing in a letter to the federal government led by Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) and Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) to also address the situation of the numerous political prisoners in Egypt at COP27.

In particular, the prominent government critic Alaa Abd el-Fattah, who has been on a hunger strike for months, needs support, write the Nobel Prize winners.

The activist has been in prison for ten years - "for the words he wrote".

With the COP27 there is an opportunity, according to the letter.

The German government must work to help not only those who are particularly threatened by climate change, but also “the prisoners and forgotten – especially in the country that receives you”.

El-Fattah will soon stop drinking water, too

According to estimates, around 60,000 people have been arrested for political reasons in Egypt in the past ten years.

In the wake of the Arab Spring, El-Fattah had become a mouthpiece for his generation and an international icon.

In April, he went on a hunger strike.

According to the Guardian, el-Fattah also wants to stop drinking at the official start of the summit in Sharm el-Sheikh on Sunday.

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