Rights lawyer says Egypt arrested about 60 people over opposition Discord server

A lawyer with a rights group handling some of the cases said Egyptian authorities have arrested about 60 people for joining a political opposition group on Discord.

Shorouk Sallam, head of the legal unit at the Egyptian Front for Human Rights, said the detainees have been charged over the past two months with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media platforms. She said arrests began at the end of last year, but increased from mid-May.

Sallam said those arrested had joined a Discord server called GenZ002. She said the server was founded by Anas Habib, an Egyptian dissident living abroad, as part of a campaign calling on Egyptians to express opposition through actions such as graffiti or distributing pamphlets. Habib has also launched an online poll calling for the removal of President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Habib, who is based in the Netherlands, was arrested twice last year. One arrest was in Amsterdam over an alleged assault on the Egyptian embassy, and another was in Brussels over an alleged threat against Sisi during a visit.

Discord, an online platform popular with young internet users, was temporarily blocked in Egypt earlier this year. The platform played an important role in Gen Z protests in Nepal and Morocco last year. Discord says on its website that it has been banned in Iran, the United Arab Emirates, Oman, North Korea and China.

Cairo is often criticised over human rights violations and threats to freedom of expression, including a crackdown on online content creators that has put young women influencers and comedians in prison. Human rights groups say Egypt holds large numbers of politicians, activists, journalists and opposition figures behind bars.