February 25, 2016
European companies are selling surveillance gear to the Egyptian government, known for its human rights abuses, Privacy International claimed in a report released on Wednesday.
The investigation alleged that Nokia Siemens Networks and Hacking Team had enabled the surveillance of Egyptian dissidents, prompting both calls for greater regulation of surveillance systems, and denials of any wrongdoing from the companies in question.
The Egyptian police are known for their repressive and brutal tactics, which appear to have grown worse under the current president, Abdel Fattah el-Sisi, who came to power in a military coup in 2013. The killing of more than a thousand protesters—the “Rab’a massacre”—drew international condemnation. Human Rights Watch called it a “crime against humanity.” The government has banned peaceful demonstrations and put journalists on trial for “conspiring to spread false news.”