The organizations called for repealing that decision against Gamal Eid and others, who were illegally prevented from traveling.
These claims came in a statement signed by 21 organizations, including the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, the National Community for Human Rights and Law, the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement, the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Center for Public Policy Studies, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Nadim Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, the Andalus Institute for Tolerance and Anti-Violence, the Habi Center for Environmental Rights, the Justice Center for Rights and Freedoms, the Centre for Appropriate Communication Techniques for Development (ACT), the Egyptians against Religious Discrimination, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, the Arab Organization for Criminal Reform, the Haqqania Foundation for Rights and Freedoms, the Freedom of Thought and Expression Foundation, the Association for Victims of Kidnappings and Forced Disappearances, and Center for Egyptian Women's Issues, the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, and Nazra for Feminist Studies.
The organizations said in their statement that Cairo International Airport authorities informed Gamal Eid on February 4 that he is on a list of people banned from traveling while he was finishing procedures for a trip to Athens. The security authorities at the airport said Eid was banned based on an order by the Prosecutor General, without giving reasons or even summoning him for investigation.
The statement added that Gamal Eid is a lawyer and a prominent human rights advocate. He is the director and founder of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI), which began its work in March 2004 in order to defend freedom of expression in Egypt and the Arab world. The network won the Ronald Berger Award in 2011 for its work in promoting freedom of expression and press freedom in Egypt. Gamal Eid received the Project on Middle East Democracy (POMED) Award in February 2011.
"In January 2016, security authorities at Cairo airport also prevented poet Omar Hazeq from traveling to the Netherlands to receive an award related to freedom of expression provided by the Oxfam Novib and Ben International. The airport authorities said this was for ‘security reasons.’ Hazeq received a presidential pardon in September after he was sentenced to 2 years in prison for violation of the demonstration law," the statement said.
The statement stressed that the recurrence of travel banning over the past few days is another in a series of restrictions on activists that began more than a year ago. The airport authorities prevented Mohammed Lutfi, director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), from traveling in June 2015, Israa Abdel Fattah, human rights activist, in January 2015, and Hossam El-Din Ali, chairman of the Egyptian Democratic Institute and his deputy Ahmed Ghanim in December 2014. Similar decisions were issued against leaders and members of political parties, including Amr Hamzawy, Mustafa al-Najjar and Asmaa Mahfouz, who were prevented from traveling for no reason.
The organizations stressed that such decisions are legally baseless because the law requires notifying the persons prevented from traveling immediately after the decision is made as outlined in Article 62 of the Constitution. These decisions represent a restriction on individual freedoms, which contradicts with article 54 of the Constitution, which guarantees protection of individual freedoms in the face of encroachment by the state authorities, including the judiciary branch.
The statement pointed out that the travel ban is not the only violation against political and human rights activists. Some of them were investigated with for hours at the airport before they were allowed to travel. Their bags and electronic devices were inspected without giving reasons and without a warrant. They were questioned about their trips and the events they would attend.
The statement added that these decisions come in the wake of fierce campaigns waged by the state apparatus in order to close the public domain and suppress the NGOs and their employees. On November 10, 2014, the Ministry of Solidarity forced all NGOs to register under a flawed law that restrict freedom to establish NGOs, exploiting the issue of foreign funding, which dates back to 2011, to avenge the organizations. This issue involved serious charges and allegations to the point of high treason and receiving foreign funding in order to implement foreign agendas to spread chaos. Dozens of homes were stormed to ensure there are no outlet for activists before the fifth anniversary of the January 25 revolution and a number of young people were arrested on charges of promoting protest. A number of Egyptian cultural institutions were also closed.