Egypt has denied allegations that it is carrying out sweeping surveillance of delegates at the ongoing COP 27.
The UN Department of Security is investigating allegations of surveillance and misconduct by Egyptian police towards delegates attending the COP27 climate summit in Sharm al-Sheikh.
The allegations of surveillance were allegedly put forward by the German delegation following an event attended by the sister of jailed hunger-striker and pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.
The representative of Egypt’s presidency of the COP27, Wael Aboulmagd, rejected the claims.
Wael Aboulmagd claimed the allegations were a distraction from the issues at stake.
The claims surfaced after the German delegation hosted an event featuring Sanaa Seif, the sister of jailed pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, a key figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime dictator Hosni Mubarak.
Fattah is serving a five-year prison sentence for “spreading false news” by sharing a Facebook post about police brutality.
Seven months into a hunger strike, Abdel Fattah began refusing water on November 6 as world leaders arrived for Cop27 to protest the conditions he said he and about 60,000 other political prisoners faced in Egypt.
Attending the summit to campaign for her brother’s release, Seif was last week heckled by pro-government attendees, who called Fattah a “criminal” and not a “political prisoner”.
Egypt has come under fire during the summit over its human rights record, with the fate of Fattah grabbing attention.
New York based NGO, Human Rights Watch, had previously condemned Egypt’s “sweeping surveillance” plans, which included phone records and the installation of cameras in hundreds of taxis in Sharm al-Sheikh.