HRW: Dozens of Egyptians illegally banned from travel

Egyptian authorities have illegally prevented dozens of people from leaving the country over the past year, according to a report released Sunday by the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW).

In some cases, members of the security forces confiscated citizens’ passports without legal justification, HRW said.

The report documented several instances when individuals attempting to leave the country were stopped and interrogated by National Security Agency (NSA) personnel while going through passport control. In many cases, the agents would then confiscate the individual’s passport without providing an explanation.

“The Egyptian authorities have jailed thousands of dissidents in the past two years and are now turning the country’s own borders into de facto prison walls," Nadim Houry, HRW’s deputy Middle East and North Africa director, stated in the report.

Targeted individuals include “members of political parties, youth activists, people associated with non-governmental groups and a former aide to former President Mohamed Morsi," the report continued.

HRW has documented at least 32 incidents when security forces confiscated the passports of individuals from NGOs and activist groups. In most of these cases, the individual was told that security personnel would be in contact to provide further information, but did not hear back from them nor were their travel documents returned.

The rights watchdog also found that many individuals subject to these effective travel bans were unable to take legal action. Many of the people HRW documented filed reports with the prosecutor general, but received no response.

Although the Constitution enshrines freedom of movement as an essential right, Egypt’s Penal Code often contradicts that right, HRW argued.

After several amendments, most recently in 2013 and 2014, the 1994 law on travel bans gives a wide array of figures the authority to issue travel ban requests to the Passport and Immigration Authority. These figures include investigating judges, Interior Ministry liaisons for the National Security and General Security agencies, and the heads of Military and General Intelligence, among others.

However, HRW also reported that an administrative court ruled last month that issuing a travel ban without a judicial order is a violation “of one of the fundamental rights and freedoms.”

A recent example of the practice occured when Mohamed Lotfy, the executive director of the Egyptian Delegation for Rights and Freedoms, was prevented from travelling to Germany in June 2015. Lofty was interrogated by security agents, who then confiscated his passport without providing a clear explanation as to why, except for “security concerns.”

That month, the Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) released a report documenting how academics are often banned from going to conferences, unless they obtain prior security clearance.

HRW stated that travel ban policies have mostly affected pro-democracy activists, academics, journalists, students, judges and politicians.