International figures urge boycott of Egypt regime

Hundreds of Egyptian, Arab, and international personalities have called for a boycott of the Egyptian government because of its bleak human rights record.  

In a letter released Sunday and addressed to the United Nations, the European Union, the United States and other nations, they condemned the “long series of human rights violations committed by the regime of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.   

The letter, a copy of which was obtained by Al-Araby Al-Jadeed, noted that the “Egyptian government executed six people on 17^th May 2015. This is one example of a long series of human rights violations committed by the regime of Abdul Fattah al-Sisi… it is noteworthy that the regime imprisoned some of those executed before the crimes they were accused of took place.”   

In relation to deposed President Mohamed Morsi, the letter said, “Dr Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president of Egypt, was sentenced to death by an Egyptian court. The least that can be said about his trial was that it was farcical”.  

The signatories accused the international community of remaining silent, and of ‘tacitly approving’ of the violations in Egypt under the coup government, arguing that this this cast doubt on the commitment of the international community to the rule of law, the human rights of the people of the Middle East and showed double standards when it comes to the Egyptian situation. 

The letter added that “the prevention of the Egyptian people from the exercise of their democratic rights, the persecution and silencing of those calling for a return to democracy, and the use of extreme measures will all be exploited by extremist groups such as Islamic State… the discontent of the people and their dissatisfaction with their regimes will mean that some people will turn to such groups in order to fulfil their hopes of liberation from oppression.”   

The signatories to the letter called for “a review of the support presented to Sisi’s regime and of the consequences of that policy for Egyptians.” 

The letter urged world powers and the international community to “support the rule of law and human rights in the Middle East and to condemn Egypt's government which has ordered and approved of massacres in Egypt.” 

The letter was signed, among others, by Noam Chomsky, professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the USA, Norman Finkelstein, professor at the Centre for Middle Eastern Studies at Sakarya University in Turkey, Toby Cadman, lawyer and founder of the International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights in the UK, and Carl Buckley, executive director of the International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights, also in the UK.   

It was also signed by a number of organizations including the League of Egyptian Expatriates for Democracy Worldwide, the Council for Egyptian American Relations in Washington, Egyptian Americans for Democracy and Human Rights.