Brussels, 4 February 2016
EuroMed Rights strongly condemns today’s travel ban decision on Gamal Eid, Executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and calls for the immediate and unconditional remove of his travel ban.
Gamal Eid, who is a leading Egyptian human rights activist and lawyer at ANHRI, an EuroMed Rights member association, was about to fly outside Egypt this morning when the Cairo Airport’s officials informed him about his travel ban decision without specifying the judicial body responsible for the decision. His luggage was returned and the officials got him out of the airport.
So far, Gamal Eid’s lawyer has not received any details from the authorities or information from the judicial bodies. Neither informed, nor questioned, Gamal Eid has not been able to defend himself.
Such decisions to ban some democracy and human rights advocates from traveling is becoming current practice in Egypt. Those police measures are being taken without putting them under a legal cover and they are often based on false pretext. It illustrates how legal decisions and police measures are arbitrary and lack serious judicial grounds in Egypt.