Over the past two weeks, the Refugee Platform in Egypt has received many reports of arrests and detentions in different areas of Greater Cairo, Alexandria, and Aswan, and has documented a large number of arrests and detentions involving many refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers.
The documented information indicates that the Egyptian authorities do not grant protection to people holding blue and yellow cards for refugees, migrants, and asylum seekers registered with UNHCR, and documented arrests include people who have a residence permit.
In similar crackdowns in previous years, security forces were heavily present in some areas such as downtown Cairo and other neighborhoods such as Zamalek, Garden City, Dokki, the main axes of the capital and other areas. According to documented testimonies, security forces randomly stop individuals, sometimes on the basis of color, appearance, and nationality, while often including foreigners as well, specifically migrants, asylum seekers, and refugees. Authorities arrest, interrogate, search electronic devices, as well as social media, and check personal identities, residency permits, and rental contracts.
The Refugee Platform in Egypt appeals to the Egyptian authorities to stop the arbitrary detentions and offers guidance and support for people on the move in Egypt in case one of them or a family member is arrested or detained. For your own safety, we recommend the following for refugee, asylum-seeking and migrant communities in Egypt:
To avoid arrest and detention, as much as possible, please heed the following advice:
- Avoid crowded main areas if possible.
- Avoid areas where people are usually stopped, and avoid areas where security checkpoints are set up.
- Avoid Egyptian political gatherings and protests completely.
- Do not stray far from your place of residence or work, especially at night.
- Keep a valid form of identification on you at all times (such as your UNHCR card or passport) inside a pouch with your name and phone number written on the inside in case it gets lost.
- Give an electronic copy of your identification documents to your family or friends.
- Keep your passport, Asylum Seeker Card, Refugee Status Determination Card, or Asylum Application Card with you during any movement within or outside your area of residence. Keep your valid residence permit card on you at all times as well, along with proof of renewal if applicable.
- If you do not have a passport, you must keep any of the aforementioned documents on you instead. If you do not have one of these documents, you must keep an identification document with your formal information instead.
- If you do not have any type of identity document, for example if it was stolen or lost, you should file a report at the police station stating that the document was stolen or lost. In which case, keep a copy of the police report and a copy of the documents if you have them with you instead at all times.
- If your residence permit has expired, you should also keep the expired document along with your identity documents to explain to the arresting officers that you will soon be renewing it. Additionally, if you are in the process of waiting for renewal, keep the renewal receipt with you to present it in case of arrest.
- If you have recently arrived in Egypt and have scheduled an appointment for registration with the UNHCR, which requires travel, specifically from one governorate to another or commuting a long distance, please keep proof of your appointment. You can also print the proof and carry it on you while on the move to reach the UNHCR office.
- To avoid mobile phone inspections, ensure that there is nothing on your mobile phones that could raise the police’s suspicion. We also advise you to not keep your photos and personal files on your mobile phones.
- Do not open social media while walking around, sometimes people are arrested for posts on pages they follow.
- Check your mobile devices before you leave the house and make sure they do not contain any personal information that identifies dissent in the form of an opinion, tendencies, or ideas that are targeted by the Egyptian authorities.
In the worst-case scenario event of being arrested by members of the Egyptian police or security services, we ask you to heed the following instructions:
- Remain calm and try to understand the reason for the detention.
- Keep the phone numbers of relatives, friends, and attorneys (if you have one in Egypt) on you at all times. Be sure to save the phone number of someone close to you, in case you are detained for a long period of time or brought before the prosecution.
- If possible, contact a family member or friend and inform them of your arrest immediately after your arrest or detention, whether in Egypt or abroad. If possible, share the location of your detention and any other pertinent information.
- If you do not speak Arabic, please request to use a translator on your phone to explain your situation to the police officers and also to understand the reason behind your arrest from them.
- If you are not registered with UNHCR and have contact with your country’s embassy, it is important to immediately contact the embassy, preferably the embassy’s emergency numbers if available.
- If you are registered with UNHCR, you must inform the officers who stopped you of this. If you are detained, you must repeat this in front of the officers and officials of the detention center while requesting to contact the UNHCR Protection Section.
- If you are a recent arrival who has not yet regularized your status and intends to apply for asylum in Egypt, you should inform the arresting, investigating or detaining authorities with a request to access UNHCR’s asylum procedures in Egypt.
In case you are escorted to a police station and detained:
- In case you are escorted to a police station, you may inquire about the reason for your detention.
- During police interrogation, make sure to read the investigation report and your statements before signing, if possible.
- During the interrogation, try not to panic as much as possible.
- You have the right to answer with ‘I do not know’ and ‘I do not remember’ if you do not know or recall something regarding the subject of the question asked.
- When appearing before the Public Prosecution, you have the right to request an attorney and to attend the interrogation. You have the right to request the presence of your personal attorney (if you have one in Egypt) and to mention them by name directly during the investigation.
- You have the right to request access and read over your own statements as well as the charges against you when appearing before the Public Prosecution. You have the right to request them and to read them as carefully and as much as possible.
- If you are registered with the UNHCR as a refugee or asylum seeker and hold either a yellow or a blue card, you have the right to refrain from giving statements until an UNHCR attorney is present, which is something you can request directly from the investigator.
- If you have no grievances and want to request your embassy’s attorney, you have the right to refrain from giving any statements until your embassy’s attorney is present. You can request this directly from the investigator.
- During the interrogation, try to remain calm as much as possible and listen carefully to all the questions directed at you.
- Do not admit to any action you have not committed. You have the right to refuse to sign statements that contradict your own.
- When interrogated before the Public Prosecution, you have the right to report any violations you were subjected to by the authorities. You also have the right to request the inclusion of said violations in the investigation report.
- At the conclusion of the interrogation before the Public Prosecution, the investigator may ask you if you have any additional statements. At that point, you have the right to request the inclusion of the location of the detention facility where you are being held and clarify any violations you are facing or concerns you may have. Additionally, you have the right to document your testimony if you have been subjected to forced disappearance.
- If you do not speak Arabic or find it difficult to understand or give your statements in Arabic, you have the right to request a translator for the language you speak.
In case the person who was detained or arrested is a family member:
- If the arrested or detained person is registered with or has a registration appointment with the UNHCR, please contact the UNHCR and report the arrest and detention. Include all the information you have regarding the location and cause of detention or the place of disappearance.
- If the arrested or detained person in Egypt has a lawyer in Egypt, contact their lawyer and inform the lawyer of all the details of the detention or arrest. Ask the lawyer to take the national legal procedures in case of arrest and loss of communication (these procedures must be followed whether a lawyer is retained or not). These include sending telegraphs of the incident, requesting disclosure of the detainee’s outcome, clarifying their legal status, and if they have health issues, through the nearest Telecom Egypt center, or by calling the landline number (124) and requesting to submit telegraphs of the incident.
- State your information as the person sending the report, along with the arrested or detained person’s information (national number or identity document numbers), as well as the relationship between you, the person sending the report, and the arrested or detained person in a communication to the National Council for Human Rights, the Human Rights Sector at the Interior Ministry, the Public Prosecutor, and the Minister of the Interior. After sending the telegrams, you should keep their numbers for use in obtaining a copy of the telegram and following up on its arrival later on.
- If you have a residence permit, you can hire an Egyptian attorney to take the necessary measures to disclose the arrested or detained person’s outcome, attend interrogations with them, and visit them in their detention facility.
- If a family member has been arrested and they are not registered with the UNHCR, and you have contact with your country’s embassy, it is important to immediately contact your country’s embassy preferably using the embassy’s emergency numbers if available. Inform the embassy of all the information you obtained and request their intervention with the Egyptian authorities to find out the status and outcome of the arrested or detained person, the reason for their detention, as well as to demand their release.
- If the person is not registered with the UNHCR, please contact their country’s embassy if possible, and inform the embassy of all information you have regarding the location and conditions of the arrest, detention, or disappearance.
- Contact civil society organizations working on refugee and migrant issues, specifically those offering legal support, to inquire about the possibility of legal assistance.
- If the arrested or detained person is registered with the UNHCR as a refugee, migrant, or asylum seeker, or intends to apply for asylum with the UNHCR, you can contact the UNHCR Protection Line.
Phone Numbers, Emails, and Links to Report Arrests and Detentions:
UNHCR Egypt Office
https://help.unhcr.org/egypt/contact-us/
Cairo: 0227390400
Alexandria: 0225990800
UNHCR’s Legal Partners Contact Information:
United Lawyers: 01154526171
Egyptian Foundation for Refugee Rights:
01272020938 or 0225751118
You can also contact the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms’ Legal Helpline:
01220549598
You can also report the incident to the Refugee Platform in Egypt and request counseling, support or legal referral via the following links:
In Arabic and Tigrinya – https://rpegy.org/Legal-advice/
In English – https://rpegy.org/en/legal-advice/
The RPE documents arrests, detentions, as well as the legal and humanitarian conditions of forcibly displaced people in Egypt. Should you or any of your family members be arrested, detained, or subjected to forced disappearance or deportation, you can submit your testimony and all related information through the following form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf0YphwLdc3nGA2AdoOTQ33UmXYNVTySLnG3neh5kpt7Dqtmg/viewform
If you have any legal inquiries related to detention and forced deportation, you can fill out the following form and our legal team will get in touch with you: https://rpegy.org/en/legal-advice/
We ask everyone to take care of themselves and their rights and we wish you all safety and security.