Voices that will not be silent

On Friday, over 15 people, both Egyptians and foreigners (including friends of mine), began to walk from Cairo to Rafah, a town on the Egypt-Gaza border, to show solidarity with Gazans and protest the Egyptian government’s refusal to fully open the border to aid and to Palestinian refugees. The group’s plan was to walk 10 – 15km that day before returning to Cairo by mini-bus, and then begin where they left off the next weekend, and the weekend after that, until they had covered the whole distance.

However, near the end of the first day of their walk, the group was stopped and detained for several hours by Egyptian security. Although most members were eventually released, Philip Rizk, an Egyptian-German activist, journalist, and documentary filmmaker and an acquaintance of mine, was arrested and taken away. Today he is being held in an unknown location, and his family has been unable to find him, despite the fact that they are in contact with numerous lawyers and the Egyptian High Court.

Egyptian prisons are notorious for their poor conditions, and there is often widespread use of torture on detainees (including political activists). Political dissidence is quickly silenced by the government and security forces, and although Philip has German citizenship and therefore may receive some protection because of this, there has still been no word since last night. Please pray for him, and for all those in Egypt who have been arrested and imprisoned for daring to speak out against those in power.