Egypt faces criticism over crackdown on activists ahead of COP27 climate summit
The Egyptian government has been criticized ahead of the United Nations Climate Summit (COP27) for what it says is the country’s handling of the climate crisis and has banned NGOs from attending the conference, the latest signs of the government’s efforts to clamp down on critical voices.
The head of the US-based Environmental Investigation Agency (EIA), John Holdren, has joined in criticizing Egypt’s climate policies and policies in general, saying that they amount to “criminality.”
On Wednesday, the International Energy Agency (IEA) highlighted the problem of energy inequality in Egypt with its own energy blueprint for the country.
Egypt has been called out as one of the most climate vulnerable countries by the UN and the UN Environment Programme (UNEP) in recent months.
It’s not the first time Cairo’s environmental policies have been criticized for their potential harmful effects. Last week, a number of Egyptian artists including poet Alaa Afifi wrote an open letter to the Egyptian government, urging the release of protesters convicted of blasphemy.
The letter also called on the country to reduce its dependence on fossil fuels and to invest on climate solutions.
The issue of human rights is also a hot-button topic in the country currently, with two petitions demanding Egyptian authorities abolish the death penalty being rejected out of hand by the Constitutional Court of Egypt.
Both petitions were penned by Alaa Afifi and his followers, who are appealing to the courts to remove the death penalty from the legal books. These petitions have been dismissed by the Supreme Council of the Judiciary, which states that the death penalty belongs to the Quran and that it must be carried out in accordance with the Quran.
However, the two petitions have garnered so much criticism and condemnation both from the Egyptian community and the general public, that they have drawn the ire of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi, who has said that they are being used as a tool against the government.
“The reason behind this is that the people are being used as a tool of destruction by those
