Egypt is holding hundreds of people in indefinite detention because they are suspected of trying to emigrate to Europe illegally, according to a local human rights organisation.

The Cairo-based Land Centre for Human Rights appears to have uncovered a previously-unreported category of prisoners detained under Egypt's near-permanent "emergency" law. Citing Karem Saber Ibrahim, the organisation's executive manager, a report in The National says:

Many of the prisoners, some of whom have been held for up to two years, have remained in jail even after they were charged, tried and acquitted for either attempting to emigrate to Europe by boat or for conspiring to help others emigrate ... The state is holding the men legally under the terms of emergency law.

The emergency law – ostensibly imposed to combat terrorism – has often been used to detain Islamists and other political activists but the authorities also seem to be using it against economic migrants.

An Egyptian lawyer quoted in the article says: “The emergency law is very wide and they [the government] use it badly ... The real solution of the problem is not to arrest these young people or arrest those who drive them to the sea. But unfortunately, we don’t think of the roots of these problems. We think of the appearance of the problem.” 

The article suggests the detentions are a response to pressure from Europe:

The problem has been an increasing cause of concern for southern European states, whose governments have appealed to their northern African counterparts to stop the illegal boat traffic on the Mediterranean Sea.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 27 November 2009.