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Amnesty International has condemned the threats from Egypt to the director of an NGO who reported on the possible reception of Palestinians.

Amnesty International (AI) and a dozen other NGOs have condemned this Monday the Egyptian authorities after Cairo authorities published information about an area under construction on the border with Gaza for the possible “reception” of Palestinian refugees. “Threatened and defamed” the director of an organization. , Egyptian authorities and related groups have responded to recent reports from the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights “with a campaign of defamation and threats against the group and its director, Ahmed Salem”, as reported today by 13 civil society organizations .

The statement said an “aggressive smear campaign” against the foundation and Salem began in mid-February on television, newspapers and social media. Salem, an Egyptian human rights activist living in the United Kingdom, said he had received threats from people close to Egyptian officials that they would “bring him back to Egypt” if he did not give up his work. According to the note, Salem warned him that “it is not beyond his reach even abroad.”

Despite living in Britain with his wife and children, Salem has expressed fears that authorities may persecute his relatives in Egypt. So far the Egyptian authorities have not responded to this information.

On February 14, 2024, the Sinai Foundation published a report “based on witness accounts, photographs and videos” on the construction by Egyptian authorities of a fortified area in the border area with Gaza in Egypt’s northern province of Sinai. According to the report, the purpose of the construction is “to accommodate refugees from Gaza in the event of mass displacement” as a result of the current Israeli offensive against the Strip.

This version was refuted by Egyptian officials on 17 February, when they said that the Egyptian army established a logistics zone in the Egyptian city of Rafah to facilitate the transfer of humanitarian aid to the hard-hit strip in the area under construction Was.

Mary Lawler, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, last Thursday urged the Egyptian government to “guarantee her (Salem’s) safety and that of her family.” “The Egyptian government must heed this call and refrain from any reprisals against Salem’s relatives,” the organizations stressed.

The Sinai Foundation has been one of the main “independent and reliable” sources of information on the development of the situation in North Sinai, where the Egyptian Army has been fighting since 2014 against armed militants from Wilayat Sina (Sinai Province), a group that is based in the region. According to the NGO, Time declared allegiance to the extremist Islamic State.

North Sinai is a military exclusion zone where the media do not have access to report freely on events in the area, except for visits organized by the press centre. (efe)