Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions he has had with his Egyptian counterpart on the arrests, travel bans and the freezing of assets of human rights advocates in that country.

We are concerned that human rights defenders in Egypt are being subjected to arrests, travel bans and asset freezes. The Foreign Secretary has raised concerns about human rights defenders with his Egyptian counterpart directly. Senior officials in London and Cairo underlined these concerns with the Egyptian authorities; the Prime Minister raised human rights when he spoke to President Sisi in March 2021 and Minister Cleverly has also recently raised our serious concerns at a senior level. Human rights defenders make a vital contribution to society, and we continue to call on the Egyptian authorities to allow these people to be able to conduct their work and live their lives unimpeded, fully benefiting from their rights under the Egyptian Constitution.