November 25, 2021
In Egypt, arms giant Dassault, a subsidiary of Thales, and the company Nexa Technologies sold a mass surveillance system to the dictatorship of Field Marshal Sisi. With the blessing of the French state.
Surveillance made in France
“Happy birthday” greetings pour in on Ahmed Alaa’s phone. On October 1, 2017, sitting in the back of a taxi in the small town of Damietta, Egypt, the student, who has just turned 22, sends out emojis and text messages to his friends. Suddenly, a man knocks on the window: “Identity card!” Plainclothes officers surround the vehicle, walkie-talkies in hand, pull him out roughly and take him away in their van. Destination unknown. “For a second I thought it was a prank”, he tells Disclose. “I didn’t think I could ever be kidnapped like that, in the middle of the street”. He was imprisoned, without any form of trial.At the time, the regime accused him of posting a photo on the Internet of himself under a rainbow flag, the symbol of the LGBT community, at an underground rock concert in Cairo on 22 September. A photo that went viral on the web in Egypt led to the young man being accused by the regime of “immorality” and belonging to an “illegal group”. After 80 days in detention, he was released without further explanation, physically and psychologically broken. He packed his bags and fled the country for Toronto, Canada, where Disclose met him to talk at length.
Sitting in the Canadian living room of friends who are refugees like him, he recalls the events. The official media broadcasting his face over and over again on TV, the threats on social networks, and then the few days in hiding in a small town far from Cairo, where he thought he was safe. “When the police arrested me, I soon realised that my phone had been tapped and my social network activity monitored. No one can escape them… ”
France sold Sisi surveillance systems that led to the arrest and torture of opponents
November 25, 2021
The site continued to publish new secrets in what it called “Egypt Papers” (Mohamed Al-Shahed/AFP)
The Egyptian authorities blocked the investigative website, Disclose, hours after it published an investigation into France’s involvement in intelligence assistance to Egypt, which led to the targeting of civilians on the Libyan border.
On Wednesday, the website continued to publish new secrets in what it called “Egypt Papers”, and revealed in a new report that the giant French arms company “Dassault”, affiliated with Thales and Nexa Technologies, sold “a mass surveillance system to the dictatorship of Field Marshal Sisi, with the blessing of the French state.” site says.
The site interviewed the Egyptian youth Ahmed Alaa, who was imprisoned without any form of trial, in 2017, and the regime accused him of posting a picture of him online under the rainbow flag, the symbol of the “gay community”, at an underground rock concert in Cairo on the 22nd. September of that year.
French spyware bosses indicted for their role in the torture of dissidents
November 25, 2021
An investigation into the sale of surveillance technologies to Libya and Egypt has led to charges against leaders at one company.
Senior executives at a French spyware firm have been indicted for the company’s sale of surveillance software to authoritarian regimes in Libya and Egypt that resulted in the torture and disappearance of dissidents.
While high-tech surveillance is a multibillion-dollar industry worldwide, it is rare for companies or individuals to face legal consequences for selling such technologies—even to notorious dictatorships or other dangerous regimes. But charges in the Paris Judicial Court against leaders at Amesys, a surveillance company that later changed its name to Nexa Technology, claim that the sales to Libya and Egypt over the last decade led to the crushing of opposition, torture of dissidents, and other human rights abuses.
French executives face torture charges for selling spy gear to Libya, Egypt
November 25, 2021
Current and former executives at two French technology companies have been charged with complicity in torture for selling surveillance equipment to Libya and Egypt that was used to track down opponents, who were then detained and tortured.
Investigating magistrates in the war crimes unit of the Paris tribunal have charged the former chief of Amesys, Philippe Vannier, and three current and former executives of Nexa Technologies, with “complicity in acts of torture”, according to the International Federation of Human Rights (FIDH).
This Week in Internet Censorship: Sri Lanka, Thailand, Egypt, and a Criminal Suit Against Amesys (2011)
November 25, 2021
EFF has grave concerns about the health of Egyptian blogger Maikel Nabil Sanad, who has now been on hunger strike for 57 days. Sanad’s retrial was scheduled for October 13, but was postponed. Sanad, who was sentenced in April by a military court to three years in prison on charges of insulting the military on his blog, has stated that he will boycott any retrial.
We firmly support the statement made by Reporters Without Borders Wednesday, which reads:
“We condemn this persistence in persecuting Sanad and call for his immediate release. This military court should dismiss the charges against him. The repeated postponement of the hearings and the refusal to release him on bail are being used to prolong his detention. The original trial was unfair and violated the principles of justice. After its verdict was rightly quashed, the retrial must not be used to repeat the first trial.”
EFF reiterates our call for Sanad’s immediate release.