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Article

8 Nov 2017

Author:
FIDH

Sale of surveillance technology to Egypt: Paris Prosecutor asked to open a criminal investigation

On 5 July 2017, Télérama revealed that Amesys had “changed its name and shareholder in order to sell its services to the new Egyptian authorities while the French state stands and looks on”. 

...FIDH [and the Ligue des Droits de l’Homme (France), with the support of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies] filed a complaint with the specialised unit responsible for prosecuting crimes against humanity within the Paris Prosecutor’s office, requesting that a criminal investigation be opened for complicity to torture and enforced disappearances in Egypt.

...On 19 October 2011, our organisations first filed a complaint against Amesys...In May 2017, Amesys was formally placed under the status of assisted witness (“témoin assisté) for complicity to torture committed in Libya between 2007 and 2011.

...However, the opening of criminal proceedings alone would not mask the lack of political willingness on the part of the French authorities, who should have prevented the export of “dual-use” surveillance technologies by the former managers of Amesys to Egypt, where oppression has been in full swing since General Al Sissi’s coup d’état.

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