France is moving to deport prominent Egyptian-Palestinian activist Ramy Shaath over his opposition to Israel’s genocide in Gaza.
Shaath, a political campaigner and human rights defender, was released from arbitrary detention in Egypt in January 2022 following pressure from French President Emmanuel Macron.
A key figure in the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings, he now faces expulsion from France on the grounds that he poses a “serious threat to public order”.
He is due to appear before a deportation committee on 21 May, after which the local prefecture “may immediately issue a deportation order that can be enforced at any time”, according to his lawyer, Damia Taharraoui.
A notice by the Nanterre prefecture and seen by AFP cited Saath’s activism and comments in support of Palestinians as factors in his deportation.
CLICK FOLLOW: TO FOLLOW US
Sign up to get the latest insights and analysis on
Israel-Palestine, alongside Turkey Unpacked and other eSPORTY
Shaath told AFP that he had attended several protests calling for “an immediate ceasefire, an end to the genocide, sanctions, arms embargoes and international action” against Israel.
“My stance has never changed since the time France worked to secure my release from Egyptian prisons where I was a political prisoner… but today, it seems they want to silence me,” he said.
The prefecture pointed to comments by Shaath, who was a coordinator of Egypt’s chapter of the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement against Israel, including references to “Israel’s criminal occupation of Gaza” and referring to “Israeli ‘terrorists’ who bomb houses and hospitals”.
His lawyer argued that he cannot be deported to Egypt, where he no longer has citizenship, nor to the Palestinian territories because of the ongoing war.
‘Policing thought’: French bill to fight antisemitism accused of silencing Israel critics
Read More »
Family members, friends and supporters of Shaath announced on Sunday that they were launching a campaign to oppose his deportation. The campaign, titled #FreeRamyShaath2, references his previous imprisonment in Egypt between 2019 and 2022.
“When he arrived in France, Ramy Shaath was welcomed as a prisoner of conscience, finally freed. President Macron himself publicly welcomed his release and his reunification with his French wife. France congratulated itself then on having helped wrest a human rights defender from the prisons of the Egyptian dictatorship,” the campaign said in a statement.
“Today, that same State is turning against him with scandalous brutality by trying to portray him as a threat to public order. After claiming to denounce Egyptian arbitrariness, it is reproducing its logic: turning a Palestinian political voice into a security file.”
Supporters said that if the deportation efforts fail, authorities are considering additional restrictions, including house arrest, confiscation of his passport and mandatory daily reporting to police.
Crackdown on protests
Since the start of Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza in October 2023, students, teachers and unions in France have warned of growing pressure on those expressing support for Palestinians.
They said that demonstrations, public speeches and building occupations are being criminalised, resulting in disciplinary hearings, administrative sanctions, legal proceedings and, in some cases, criminal records.
A bill introduced in the French parliament last month would apply a range of penalties for criticism of Israel, including denying Israel’s existence and comparisons between Israel and Nazi Germany.
The proposed legislation also expands terrorism-related offences to include what the text describes as “implicit” provocation.
Meanwhile, Egypt ranks 18 out of 100 in Freedom House’s Freedom in the World index, which measures political rights and civil liberties in 208 countries, with higher rankings indicating less freedom.
Human rights groups estimate that more than 60,000 political prisoners are languishing in Egyptian prisons.
Human Rights Watch has described the Egyptian government as being engaged in “wholesale repression, systematically detaining and punishing peaceful critics and activists and effectively criminalising peaceful dissent”.
Middle East Eye contacted the French interior ministry for comment and clarification on where Shaath could be deported, but had received no response at the time of publication.
