The Norwegian-Swedish border, 14 September 2023.

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On June 8, the Egyptian transitional government announced its intention to enforce a ban on strikes and protests that “obstruct the work of public institutions” or harm “national unity, societal peace or public order”, penalizing those who participate in such actions with a fine of 30.000 – 100.000 Egyptian pounds or a prison sentence of no less than one year. On that same day riot police forcibly tried to break up a peaceful sit-in outside the People’s Assembly in Cairo and arrested at least 5 of the participating tenant farmers, according to press reports and eyewitness accounts. A few days earlier, military police arrested 5 petroleum workers following a sit-in outside the Ministry of petroleum.
We are deeply concerned about these and numerous other reports of repression against peaceful protests since the resignation of Hosni Mubarak on February 11, and strongly urge the Egyptian authorities to refrain from all forms of violence against demonstrators or striking workers. We call upon the government to reconsider the decision to impose the ban on strikes – a clear violation of international conventions signed by Egypt. As the right to strike is a fundamental human right under international law, imposing such a ban would amount to nothing less than a betrayal of the revolution of the Egyptian people, and its legitimate demands for a just and democratic society.
We also call upon the government of Egypt to uphold its promise to guarantee the right of all Egyptian workers to form independent and democratic unions, and extend our full support to the Egyptian Federation of Independent Trade Unions and all the workers of Egypt in their struggle to realize this demand. The emergence of free and independent trade unions is an event of enormous significance for Egypt and the entire region and is to be welcomed by trade unionists and all democratic forces around the world.

Signed,
Björn A. Borg, Swedish Dockworkers Union
Hans Linde, Left Party of Sweden, Member of Swedish Parliament
Josefin Brink, Left Party of Sweden, Member of Swedish Parliament
Amineh Kakabaveh, Left Party of Sweden, Member of Swedish Parliament
Lotta Johnsson Fornarve, Left Party of Sweden, Member of the Party
Central Committee
Mussie Ephrem, Left Party of Sweden, Member of the Party Central Committee
Ann-Margarethe Livh, Chairman, Left International Forum
Jytte Guteland, President of Swedish Social Democratic Youth

Swedish journalist and blogger Per Bjorklund has been stopped around half an hour ago at the Cairo Airport. An Immigration Police Officer told him his “name [was] on the computer,” according to Per with whom I spoke on the phone few mins ago.
Per is in some room at the airport, where there are other people, and he awaits an explanation from the police.
Per has been one of the most active foreign journalists (if not the most active) in covering the Egyptian strike wave and human rights abuses, stringing for a number of Swedish publications as well as activist websites like the Electronic Intifada.

It’s 4:20am now: Per has been told by the Egyptian police he will be deported to Prague (from where he arrived) on the next plane.

It’s 4:44am now: Per’s mobile is switched off.

UPDATE: Tuesday 12:40pm: Per is still at the Cairo Airport, detained by the police, according to AP. He awaits deportation on the next flight to Prague, scheduled Thursday morning. Sarah Carr reports that the Swedish Embassy says Egyptian police have officially declared Per persona non grata.

UPDATE: Here is an AP report by Paul Schemm:

A Swedish journalist and blogger specializing in Egyptian labor issues was stopped by security at Cairo airport early Tuesday and was set to be deported from the country, his girlfriend and Egyptian bloggers said.
Per Bjorklund, who spent the last year covering labor strikes in Egypt, was returning to the country with his girlfriend from their native Sweden via Prague, when he was detained.
Earlier in September, an American citizen who participated in a pro-Palestinian demonstration with Bjorkland was also prevented from entering the country.
“They held his passport and they said I had to go on,” Bjorkland’s girlfriend Anna Sicking told The Associated Press. “They said something came up and they held him.”
Sicking waited six hours at the airport for Bjorklund until she was told he had been sent back to Prague.
Egyptian blogger and journalist Hossam el-Hamalawy spoke to Bjorklund at about 4:30 a.m. while he was in detention shortly before his mobile phone went silent.
“He was told his name was on a computer and he was to be returned to Prague,” he said.
A security official at the airport told AP that Bjorklund was detained by order of State Security, the nation’s plainclothes police organization, and he was still in custody awaiting deportation.
The next flight form Cairo Airport to Prague is early Thursday.
The Swedish Embassy in Cairo said they had been contacted by Bjorklund’s girlfriend but would not comment further.
Sicking said the embassy told her there was nothing they could do and he had probably written something they didn’t like.
“He’s Swedish, he writes in Swedish, there are 9 million people there, I don’t think it’s his writings that have got him in trouble,” said Sicking.
Bjorklund writes for Swedish publications on Egyptian labor issues, including a wave of strikes that has been taking place for the last two years. He also has a blog, “Egypt and beyond,” in English.
He has lived in Egypt for the last three years. The last time he entered the country was in September 2008, also when returning from spending the summer in Sweden.
On Sept. 3, U.S. citizen Travis Randall was also stopped at Cairo airport and deported from the country.
Both Randall and Bjorkland participated in a small demonstration showing solidarity with Palestinians trapped in Gaza last February. After several hours, the demonstrators were briefly detained by police.
A German-Egyptian activist, Philip Rizk, who participated in the same demonstration was held for four days in solitary confinement, apparently due to the government sensitivity over any criticism of its Palestinian policy.
Police have detained hundreds of members of the opposition Muslim Brotherhood and a number of bloggers following their criticism of Egypt’s involvement in the closure of the Gaza Strip, especially during the Israeli attacks there in late December.

Carole has more photos:

I also received a video of the protest that took place in Toronto, Canada, on 11 April in solidarity with the Mahalla workers:

And here are letters of solidarity from Canadian labor unions:

April 11, 2008
His Excellency Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdin Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Re: Egyptian Workers at the El Mahalla El Kurba
Dear President Mubarak:
On behalf of the Canadian Labour Congress (CLC), representing 3.2 million working women and men across Canada, I strongly condemn the recent violent acts against the workers of the El Mahala El Kurba factory in the Nile Delta.
The CLC has been informed that thousands of textile workers at El Mahalla El Kurba went on strike for increased wages to compensate for continually rising inflation. We were shocked to learn that, to disperse protesters, the police fired rubber bullets and tear gas into the crowd. Many people were injured and hundreds acquired breathing problems resulting from gas inhalation.
We urge the Egyptian government to ensure an immediate stop to all attacks on workers and involved citizens, and immediately release all political prisoners who have been detained for their labor and political activism.
We note that, in the last few years, Egypt has witnessed many workers’ protests and strikes, in a number of industries, particularly in the spinning and weaving sectors. Your governmnet has cracked down on political opposition, jailed journalists and editors, closed human rights organization and imprisoned hundreds of political activists.
The CLC urges you to take direct action against these violations of basic human and trade union rights – namely the right to organize, freedom of expression, freedom of opinion and freedom to publish information.
We are also calling for the immediate enforcement of the Administrative Court judgement annulling all unfair decisions to close the Center for Trade Union and Workers Services (CTUWS) headquarters and allow its legal right to register.
I look forward to your immediate and decisive action in these matters.
Very sincerely,
Kenneth V. Georgetti
President
Canadian Labour Congress

From the Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE):
April 22, 2008
His Excellency Hosni Mubarak
President of the Arab Republic of Egypt
Abdin Palace
Cairo, Egypt
Your Excellency:
We write to express grave concern about the recent acts of violence against textile workers in El Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta. We are told that several workers have been killed and that more than 250 workers were arrested after the April 6 strike at the factory, one of the largest in the Middle East.
We are aware that thousands of textile workers, on strike for better wages to cope with continually rising inflation, have faced rubber bullets and tear gas. We understand that many workers were injured as the police resorted to this violent response.
In recent years, we are aware that your government has cracked down on political opposition, jailing journalists and other critics, shutting down human rights groups and detaining political activists.
We join with many others in urging you to stop the attacks on citizens and workers, particularly those at El Mahalla, and to release political prisoners detained because of their labor and political activism.
We further urge you to guarantee citizens’ democratic rights to gather, strike and protest the failure of the government to guarantee a safe and dignified living, fair wages and suitable working conditions. Also of concern is the closure of the Center for Trade Union and Workers services headquarters. We urge you to reverse that decision.
We endorse the call for a public investigation into the El Mahalla events with a view to bringing to justice those who ordered shots to be fired on strikers. Clearly, these recent incidents of violence suggest the need to insure the economic stability, social justice and protection of citizens’ rights to security, equality and dignified living.
Yours truly,
Paul Moist
National President
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
Claude Généreux
National Secretary-Treasurer
Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE)
cc:
Ambassador Dr. Mahmoud El-Saeed, Egyptian Embassy, Ottawa
Egyptian Consulate, Montreal
The Council of Ministers
Karam Saber, Executive Manager, Land Center for Human Rights
Stephen Harper, Prime Minister of Canada
Maxime Bernier, Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister
Canadian Embassy, Cairo
Ken Georgetti, President, Canadian Labour Congress
National Executive Board members, Canadian Union of Public Employees

From the International Solidarity Committee, Ontario Division, Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE):
Statement of Solidarity with Egyptian Workers
10 April 2008
CUPE Ontario International Solidarity Committee Condemns Attacks on Striking Egyptian Workers
The Canadian Union of Public Employees (CUPE) Ontario International Solidarity Committee strongly condemns the latest round of repression by the Egyptian government against workers and protesters in El-Mahalla, an industrial town in the Nile Delta.
Eyewitness statements from workers, human rights, and solidarity organizations in Egypt indicate that thousands of workers and their families have been targeted by government troops in the area. At least two protesters have been killed by security forces, over 300 workers arrested, and the area placed under siege.
The repression follows a courageous call for a one-day general strike, originating in El-Mahalla, and supported widely by workers, human rights groups, and political organizations across the country. El Mahalla Factory is one of the largest textile factories in the Middle East.
CUPE stands firmly with our Egyptian brothers and sisters in their fight against neo-liberalism and state repression. We call on the Egyptian government to immediately release all those arrested in the last few days, particularly children. The Egyptian government must immediately cease the practice of torture in detention and bring to justice all those involved in human rights abuses. Furthermore, we call on the government to respect the right to strike and organize, and for workers at El Mahalla to be granted a livable wage and decent working conditions.
CUPE International Solidarity Committee urges its members to send messages of protest to Egyptian officials in Canada as well as emails of support to the striking workers (see below). We note the call by workers for further strike action on May 4th and will continue to stand in solidarity with all workers in the region.

And I received the following message from Sweden:

We in the SAC, Swedens Workers Central Organization, protest strongly and with anger against the violence that the aggressive agents of the police used on the protesting workers. The Egyptian workers need to be treated with the fullest respect, as they deserve, since they create everything.
When they struggle for what is just and fair, their demands should be listened to and fulfilled. Using brute, fatal force and lethal weapons against those who feed and dress a world is unacceptable! These simple demands should be met.
– all activists should be released immediately
– the right to strike left untouched
– the right to demonstrate should be left untouched
– no more violence against the workers of Egypt
– justice for the injured workers and the family of the murdered boy
– the demands of the workers should be met
The International committé of the SAC
Per Lundin

For more background on Agiza’s case please check this report  I coauthored last year: Black Hole: The Fate of Islamists Rendered to Egypt.