Egypt orders deportation of Syrians who celebrated Assad’s fall

Egypt has ordered the deportation of three Syrians who were detained after they took part in street celebrations in Cairo following the fall of President Bashar al-Assad earlier this month, a rights group said on Sunday.

According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (Eipr), Egyptian security forces on 8 and 9 December detained around 30 Syrian men and women in the city of Sixth of October, west of Cairo, while dispersing a spontaneous gathering celebrating the end of more than five decades of rule by the Assad dynasty. 

On Sunday, Eipr said that three of the detained Syrians, still held by police, are now facing deportation.

The group said that the arrests began on 8 December, shortly after Syrian rebels announced that they were in control of Damascus, and that Assad and his family had fled to Russia. 

A gathering outside the Hosary mosque lasted around 15 minutes and ended before police arrived.

However, in another part of the city’s Second District, police officers randomly arrested 20 Syrians after breaking up their celebratory gathering, Eipr said. All were transferred to the Sixth of October police station.

Eipr said that six detainees with residency permits were released the following day, while the remaining detainees, who held temporary asylum seeker cards (yellow cards), were kept in custody. 

‘Excessive’ measures

On 11 December, those holding yellow cards were transferred to the passport and immigration authority in Abbasiya and then returned to the police station, raising concerns about their potential deportation.

Separately, on Monday 9 December, Syrians in the Second District of Sixth of October city briefly celebrated Assad’s departure.

Although no arrests were made during the gathering, police later randomly detained ten Syrians from the streets after identifying their nationality, Eipr said.

The rights group could not confirm whether any formal charges had been brought against them. It said that, although authorities had ordered their release, they have yet to implement their decision.

It added that they had been transferred to the passport and immigration authority for verification of their legal status.

“Eipr condemns the excessive security measures in Egypt, which prevent individuals from expressing their opinions, solidarity, or joy publicly,” the group said, calling on Egypt to immediately release the detained Syrians and refrain from deporting any of them, given the continued uncertainty about safety in Syria. 

“Forced return would expose them to significant risks, as highlighted by the UNHCR, which advises against considering Syria a safe country for refugee returns,” the statement added.

“The Eipr also urges the Public Prosecutor’s Office and law enforcement agencies to adhere to existing laws and Egypt’s commitments under international agreements on the rights of refugees and asylum seekers,” it said.

“These agreements prohibit exposing refugees and asylum seekers to danger, forcibly returning them to their countries of origin, or deporting them to areas where their safety and lives are at risk.”

Syrians constitute half the refugee and asylum seeking population in Egypt. A total of 136,700 Syrian refugees were registered with UNHCR in Egypt in December 2021.