EFHR condemns the arrest of six Egyptian citizens on charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news, based on their attempt to organize an Egyptian convoy to lift the siege on Gaza. The EFHR considers their interrogation by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) a violation of their constitutional and legal rights. The EFHR also calls on the Egyptian authorities to disclose the details of these cases and to allow those detained to obtain the legal support to which they are entitled.
In parallel with the Israeli aggression on Gaza, the war on Gaza has presented yet another episode and justification in the series of repression suffered by Egyptian citizens through violations of their rights, repression that does not hesitate to extend to non-Egyptians as well, as evidenced by the events of the Global March to Gaza this June, which targeted citizens of several countries worldwide without any clear legal or constitutional basis.
Since the outbreak of the Israeli war on Gaza following the military operation launched by Hamas against Israel on October 7, 2023, and with the escalation of the Israeli machinery of killing and extermination against civilians in Gaza and the West Bank, there has been a surge of global and local solidarity and attempts to express this solidarity, which have not been spared from varying waves of repression and restriction.
Israel’s genocidal war against Gaza poses security and strategic challenges for Egypt, which has prompted the Egyptian authorities—despite their authoritarian tendencies, to attempt to produce carefully managed public scenes reflecting popular support for the Egyptian state’s position rejecting Israeli plans to forcibly displace the residents of Gaza to Sinai, as well as rejecting policies of extermination and starvation against Palestinians.
In response to these public calls, a number of people and political and national forces sought to engage independently with the developments of the war on Gaza, which is considered a matter of national security, starting from positions rejecting displacement and extermination. Others moved to criticize the Egyptian stance, which some saw as a decision of “inaction” in the face of the genocide being perpetrated against Gaza’s civilians after the closure of the Rafah crossing on the Egyptian side, while allowing some war profiteers and businessmen close to the authorities to profit from the suffering of Palestinians and Egyptians stranded at the border by collecting large sums of money in exchange for allowing them to cross into Egyptian territory, under the full view and knowledge of the official authorities.
Indiscriminately, the machinery of repression moved to target this broad spectrum of peaceful sympathizers, confirming the strategic decision to target all forms of civil and political expression, regardless of their slogans. The repression targeted tools such as street demonstrations and sit-ins in front of syndicates, or efforts to address the Palestinian cause and its displaced people within sectoral frameworks, such as student groups and universities, in an organized manner aimed at achieving non-political demands, including exemption from tuition fees, financial support, and facilitation of administrative registration procedures. The crackdown also extended to those who individually expressed solidarity in public spaces—even in small numbers—on the pretext of organizing unauthorized and unlicensed demonstrations, or merely for creating student groups in solidarity with Palestine.
These citizens have faced a series of legal and physical violations, including raids on their homes and residences. They have been charged with joining terrorist groups and spreading false news, and have been subjected to prolonged pretrial detention in these cases, with the prospect of being tried before exceptional courts, such as terrorism circuit courts (TCC). The violations have exceeded the legal sphere, reaching physical abuse in the form of beatings, verbal insults, enforced disappearances, and interrogations conducted unlawfully without the presence of legal counsel.
In June 2025, a new chapter began in the series of repression by the Egyptian authorities, triggered by the Gaza war, with the arrival of the Global March to Gaza. Despite the organizers of the convoy announcing their objectives and their attempts to communicate with the official Egyptian authorities—represented by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and its representatives abroad—to obtain the necessary permits to be present in Arish and Rafah and to secure entry visas to Egypt, the Egyptian response only aggravated the crisis.
Although the organizers tried to establish a communication channel with the Egyptian authorities at least a month before the participants’ arrival on Egyptian soil, the authorities chose not to cooperate, respond, or clarify their position to the organizers or participants before their arrival.
At the same time, official and pro-government media outlets sought to mislead public opinion and incite hostility against the participants by portraying them as lawbreakers attempting to enter Egyptian territory without clear permission or authorization. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ statement claimed that the refusal was not about rejecting the concept of convoys per se, citing the passage of official delegations through the Rafah crossing since the outbreak of the war on Gaza as evidence. However, this is misleading, given that most of these delegations were government and diplomatic missions aimed at observing the situation rather than applying pressure on the Israeli side.
Despite this propaganda campaign—which began after the participants had already arrived in Egypt, the convoy organizers offered to communicate with the Egyptian authorities and their embassies to coordinate and correct any perceived violations and avoid breaching national laws or putting the Egyptian authorities in any form of embarrassment. The authorities nonetheless declined and instead chose to proceed with security measures, relying on several legal loopholes, such as Article 25 of Law No. 89 of 1960 regulating the entry of foreigners into Egypt, which grants the Minister of Interior the authority to deport foreigners by decree.
Upon the participants’ arrival at Egypt’s airports, the Egyptian Front documented a series of legal, human rights, and physical violations against them, including:
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Detaining dozens of participants immediately upon arrival at the airports without clear cause, despite their entry visas being legally valid. The fact that they were detained without thorough investigation underscores the lack of any legal justification for the detention.
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Holding some participants for varying periods, up to approximately 24 hours in some cases—and interrogating them without legal basis or judicial orders, whether in hotels, airports, or other locations.
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Seizing the passports of foreign participants in the convoy without due cause or judicial authorization and confiscating their belongings without legal basis.
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Extending detention, passport confiscation, and questioning to other foreigners and tourists present in Egypt merely out of suspicion, without any evidence of their connection to the convoy.
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Deporting dozens of foreign participants, the majority of whom held European passports, immediately upon their arrival at Egypt’s airports.
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Similarly, extending deportation, detention, and questioning procedures to any foreigner carrying symbols of solidarity with Gaza, such as keffiyehs, flags, etc., without any additional evidence indicating any connection to the convoy.
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Physical assault and beatings by security forces and other associated individuals against convoy participants, resulting in bodily injuries.
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The violent dispersal of peaceful gatherings, such as those in Ismailia Governorate.
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The enforced disappearance of some convoy participants, with their places of detention and the legal basis for their detention unknown, as in the case of a Tunisian female participant, the Canadian activist Manuel Tapial, coordinator of the Canadian group in the convoy, and others who were beaten in undisclosed locations.
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Preventing participants from accessing food and medical care during prolonged periods of detention and holding some of them in unsuitable facilities.
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Confiscating some participants’ mobile phones and preventing them from using public phones at airports to contact third parties—whether their embassies or others, to inform them of their situation.
Despite two weeks having passed since the Gaza Convoy events and the deportation of participants to their countries amid scarce information from either the Egyptian side or their embassies, the Egyptian security apparatus continues to target Egyptian citizens supporting the Palestinian cause indiscriminately. In recent days, arrests and detentions have been documented of six citizens who attempted to organize an Egyptian convoy to lift the siege on Gaza.
EFHR calls for the immediate release of dozens of citizens detained for peacefully and freely expressing their opinions and solidarity with the Palestinian cause since October 2023. The EFHR also expresses its concern over the continued targeting of other citizens, some of whom remain detained for attempting to organize demonstrations, convoys, or other forms of solidarity with Gaza, reflecting the persistence of the repressive machinery in targeting citizens and their peaceful attempts to express themselves, even regarding regional causes that are central to every citizen’s national conscience.