Egypt bars top human rights lawyer from traveling abroad
A prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer has been barred from leaving the country as military-backed administration of President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi intensifies crackdown on dissidents and political opponents.
Negad Borai, who runs the United Group for Law, said on Thursday that he was stopped at Cairo Airport while attempting to travel to Jordan to visit his wife.
Officials at the airport stopped Borai following a request from the public prosecutor's office.
Borai, who had earlier drafted an anti-torture bill and submitted it to President el-Sisi, is being accused of deliberately spreading false information, receiving illegal funds and incitement to resist authorities,
The Egyptian government has launched an investigation into Borai and two judges over proposing the draft law to combat torture.
The New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW), in a recent statement, called on Egyptian authorities to drop all charges leveled against them.
This has been the latest in a series of travel bans imposed on rights activists. Several journalists, rights activists and politicians have been barred from leaving Egypt over the past few months.
The Egyptian lawmakers have recently passed a new law that puts heavy restrictions on non-governmental organizations.
Several prominent human rights groups have repeatedly condemned the Egyptian government’s systematic use of travel bans against activists, political opponents and dissidents.
The Egyptian government has been cracking down on opposition since former president, Mohamed Morsi, was ousted in a military coup led by former army chief and current President el-Sisi in July 2013.
Rights groups say the army’s crackdown on the supporters of Morsi has led to the deaths of over 1,400 people and arrest of 22,000 others, including hundreds of people who have been sentenced to death in mass trials.
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