This article is from the source 'nytimes' and was first published or seen on . It last changed over 40 days ago and won't be checked again for changes.
You can find the current article at its original source at http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/14/world/africa/liliane-daoud-egypt-critics.html
The article has changed 3 times. There is an RSS feed of changes available.
| Version 0 | Version 1 |
|---|---|
| Egypt’s Latest Tactic Against Critics: Block Their Movements, or Deport Them | Egypt’s Latest Tactic Against Critics: Block Their Movements, or Deport Them |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| CAIRO — Hours after being fired from her job as a presenter on one of the few remaining television news programs in Egypt critical of the government, Liliane Daoud found herself on a plane to Lebanon. | CAIRO — Hours after being fired from her job as a presenter on one of the few remaining television news programs in Egypt critical of the government, Liliane Daoud found herself on a plane to Lebanon. |
| Plainclothes police officers barged into the Cairo home of Ms. Daoud, a Lebanese-British journalist, on June 27 and whisked her off to the airport, forcing her to leave behind her tearful 11-year-old daughter. Ms. Daoud was told that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had personally ordered her deportation. | Plainclothes police officers barged into the Cairo home of Ms. Daoud, a Lebanese-British journalist, on June 27 and whisked her off to the airport, forcing her to leave behind her tearful 11-year-old daughter. Ms. Daoud was told that President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi had personally ordered her deportation. |
| “They said it didn’t matter who I called, because it was a presidential order,” Ms. Daoud said recently, speaking by telephone from Beirut, the Lebanese capital. | “They said it didn’t matter who I called, because it was a presidential order,” Ms. Daoud said recently, speaking by telephone from Beirut, the Lebanese capital. |
| Ms. Daoud is among nearly 500 people — mostly activists, lawyers and reporters — who have been deported, barred from travel or temporarily detained at Egyptian airports since Mr. Sisi came to power in 2013, according to Daftar Ahwal, a local civil rights group that monitors the incidents. | Ms. Daoud is among nearly 500 people — mostly activists, lawyers and reporters — who have been deported, barred from travel or temporarily detained at Egyptian airports since Mr. Sisi came to power in 2013, according to Daftar Ahwal, a local civil rights group that monitors the incidents. |
| Other Egyptian dissidents have suffered far worse treatment, with a sharp rise in detentions, torture and enforced disappearances over the past year, according to human rights groups. Even so, activists say the deportations and travel bans have become a measure of Mr. Sisi’s determination to stifle those critics who are not already in prison. | Other Egyptian dissidents have suffered far worse treatment, with a sharp rise in detentions, torture and enforced disappearances over the past year, according to human rights groups. Even so, activists say the deportations and travel bans have become a measure of Mr. Sisi’s determination to stifle those critics who are not already in prison. |
| Typically, many discover that they have been barred from leaving Egypt only when they turn up at the airport in Cairo to board an international flight. | Typically, many discover that they have been barred from leaving Egypt only when they turn up at the airport in Cairo to board an international flight. |
| “The airport is where you find out what the authorities have in mind for you,” said Mohamed Lotfy, the executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, a rights group based in Cairo. | “The airport is where you find out what the authorities have in mind for you,” said Mohamed Lotfy, the executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, a rights group based in Cairo. |
| Although Egyptian law states that a judicial order is required to prevent a citizen from leaving the country, many say they were not shown any such order. In some cases, their passports are confiscated. | Although Egyptian law states that a judicial order is required to prevent a citizen from leaving the country, many say they were not shown any such order. In some cases, their passports are confiscated. |
| “It is intended to humiliate,” said Fahmy Howeidy, a veteran journalist who was prevented from boarding a flight to Spain last year. “People stare and other airport employees, who don’t understand what’s going on, come up and ask why you are standing around.” | “It is intended to humiliate,” said Fahmy Howeidy, a veteran journalist who was prevented from boarding a flight to Spain last year. “People stare and other airport employees, who don’t understand what’s going on, come up and ask why you are standing around.” |
| Gamal Eid, one of the country’s leading rights lawyers, was barred from travel in February along with Hossam Bahgat, a prominent rights activist and investigative journalist. Like many of those barred, Mr. Eid said he saw the travel ban as punishment for his participation in the 2011 uprising that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, and as part of a broader effort to discourage any similar public mobilization in the future. | Gamal Eid, one of the country’s leading rights lawyers, was barred from travel in February along with Hossam Bahgat, a prominent rights activist and investigative journalist. Like many of those barred, Mr. Eid said he saw the travel ban as punishment for his participation in the 2011 uprising that led to the ouster of President Hosni Mubarak, and as part of a broader effort to discourage any similar public mobilization in the future. |
| He said the travel restrictions also highlighted a major difference in the brands of authoritarianism practiced by Mr. Sisi and Mr. Mubarak. While Mr. Mubarak took a “hot-and-cold approach” to opponents, sometimes allowing them public space to criticize his rule, Mr. Eid said, Mr. Sisi and his officials appear to believe that even small concessions to opponents could be a fatal mistake. | He said the travel restrictions also highlighted a major difference in the brands of authoritarianism practiced by Mr. Sisi and Mr. Mubarak. While Mr. Mubarak took a “hot-and-cold approach” to opponents, sometimes allowing them public space to criticize his rule, Mr. Eid said, Mr. Sisi and his officials appear to believe that even small concessions to opponents could be a fatal mistake. |
| Complicating matters, some of those targeted by the travel restrictions are not even opponents of Mr. Sisi, buthave instead fallen foul of other elements of the state apparatus. | |
| Abdel Halim Kandil, a journalist who is broadly supportive of Mr. Sisi and the military, said he had been turned back at the airport in Cairo three times in 2015. He said he believed that the ban had been instituted by powerful judges in response to critical comments he made about the judiciary in 2012. | |
| “Everyone with a bit of power in this country is going after everyone they dislike, it seems,” he said. | “Everyone with a bit of power in this country is going after everyone they dislike, it seems,” he said. |
| Mr. Kandil has since acquired a court order lifting the travel ban, but it was dismissed by police officials at the airport. “They said, ‘No, we have orders,’ ” Mr. Kandil said. “It is confusing.” | Mr. Kandil has since acquired a court order lifting the travel ban, but it was dismissed by police officials at the airport. “They said, ‘No, we have orders,’ ” Mr. Kandil said. “It is confusing.” |
| Not everyone walks free after being stopped at Egypt’s airports. | Not everyone walks free after being stopped at Egypt’s airports. |
| Ismail Alexandrani, an journalist and researcher who was arrested at the Hurghada airport in December, is in custody awaiting trial for “spreading false news.” | Ismail Alexandrani, an journalist and researcher who was arrested at the Hurghada airport in December, is in custody awaiting trial for “spreading false news.” |
| Ms. Daoud, the broadcast journalist, was fired from her post at the privately owned ONtv channel just a few weeks after the rising pro-Sisi businessman, Ahmed Abou Hashima, bought it. She had been threatened with deportation several times in the previous year. | Ms. Daoud, the broadcast journalist, was fired from her post at the privately owned ONtv channel just a few weeks after the rising pro-Sisi businessman, Ahmed Abou Hashima, bought it. She had been threatened with deportation several times in the previous year. |
| Over that time, members of her production team were threatened with arrest, while immigration officials declined to renew her residency in Egypt, citing “security checks,” Ms. Daoud said. | Over that time, members of her production team were threatened with arrest, while immigration officials declined to renew her residency in Egypt, citing “security checks,” Ms. Daoud said. |
| “I was afraid to travel because I knew they wouldn’t let me back in,” she said. | “I was afraid to travel because I knew they wouldn’t let me back in,” she said. |