Egyptian rights group wins Norway's Rafto human rights prize

An Egyptian human rights group has been named the winner of the Norwegian Rafto Prize for 2020 for "their persistence in bravely resisting Egypt's state of fear."

The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) was cited for documenting and reporting "on the grave human rights violations in Egypt and beyond".

They have sought to defend political prisoners, human rights activists and protesters and victims of disappearances and torture, the Rafto jury said on Thursday.

Founded in 2013 by Mohamed Lotfy and Ahmed Abdallah, the ECRF comprises over 50 lawyers and researchers and about 1,000 volunteers. It was formed after the army in 2013 overthrew Egypt's first democratically elected but divisive president, Mohammed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.

Under President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi, who led Morsi's ouster, "the worrying human rights situation in Egypt has deteriorated to a degree not seen before," the jury said.

The ECRF has, for instance, documented 2,723 cases of enforced disappearances over a five-year period. Other concerns include the jailing of political opponents, and that prisoners are often held in overcrowded prisons in poor conditions.

The award – worth 20,000 dollars – was created in 1986 in memory of Thorolf Rafto, a Norwegian academic and human rights activist. An award ceremony is set for 8 November in Bergen, Norway. Previous Rafto Prize winners include Myanmar's Aung San Suu Kyi and Iranian human rights activist Shirin Ebadi, both of whom later became Nobel laureates.  (dpa)