Divestment and Egypt

posted on: Apr 18, 2015

An Egyptian-American activist, Mohamed Soltan, was recently sentenced to life in prison by an Egyptian court. His sin? Participating in a sit-in in protest of the 2013 ousting of Mohamed Morsi, the first democratically elected president of Egypt in over thirty years, by a violent military coup that left thousands dead.

As Egyptian-Americans, the idea of our government arresting any one of us for engaging in peaceful acts of dissent is despicable. We believe we have a strong moral duty to denounce, just as Soltan did, actions undertaken by the Egyptian government that violate human rights or contravene international law.

For 8 years, the Egyptian government has enforced an illegal blockade of the Gaza strip that has systematically denied Palestinians their basic human rights in Gaza. Although Egypt only shares a 12-kilometer border with Gaza, it has, along with Israel,  implemented a system of collective punishment through domination of Gaza’s air, sea, and land borders. There has been no indication of any easing of the blockade, and tensions have only recently increased.

Source: dailyprincetonian.com