Operation Sirli: the European Court of Human Rights demands answers from France
Three years after the Disclose revelations about the French army’s intelligence operation that led to summary executions in Egypt, the European Court of Human Rights is demanding explanations from the French authorities. The legal proceedings follow a complaint lodged by two international NGOs in early 2024.
The prospect of a trial has never been so close. Europe’s highest human rights court will be examining our revelations about Operation Sirli, France’s military cooperation with the Egyptian dictatorship of Abdel Fattah al-Sissi. Except that, unlike the legal proceedings opened in July 2022 for compromising national defence secrets, the aim is not to track down our sources.
This time, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) is demanding that the French authorities explain their role in this military intelligence mission which, according to our investigation, led to the execution of hundreds of Egyptian civilians between 2016 and 2019. The Court’s request comes after two international NGOs, Egyptians Abroad for Democracy and Code Pink-Women for Peace, filed a complaint on February 8th, 2024.
The French government had until December 7th to respond to the ECHR’s official request, sent out on September 30th: “Should the French State be held responsible for the alleged deaths of Egyptian civilians? […] Are military cooperation actions open to judicial review?” Until now, the French Defence Ministry has been curt, to say the least. In 2022, at the end of an internal investigation that took three months to complete and was never made public, the Ministry stated that “the prevention of a possible risk of abuse has been monitored over time.”
“Comfort” for victims’ families
In the space of two years, no fewer than three public prosecutors have rejected complaints lodged by members of parliament and NGOs against the French authorities. Most recently, on October 9th, 2023, Sophie Havard, the public prosecutor specialising in crimes against humanity at the Paris court, dismissed the complaint for complicity in crimes and crimes against humanity.
The European Court’s ruling is ‘a step forward for human rights and for the Egyptian people in particular’, Mohamed Ismail, President of Egyptians Abroad for Democracy, said. But it is far from enough: even in exile, Egyptian activists continue to be targeted by the regime.
Activist Ghada Naguib experienced this firsthand. In 2023, this member of the Egyptians Abroad for Democracy NGO was detained for a month by the Turkish authorities. According to the NGO, she was targeted at the request of the Egyptian authorities because of her public activities and her denunciation of Operation Sirli on social networks.
The ECHR must now assess the arguments of each party. If it finds the NGOs’ complaint admissible, France will be taken to the European Court. This time, the chances of success are much greater: 92% of complaints lodged with the ECHR are deemed admissible. Whatever happens, this step demonstrates once again the public information value of Disclose’s work, thanks to the courage of those who refuse to be complicit in state crimes and speak out.
Authors: Ariane Lavrilleux, Arno Soheil Pedram
Translation: Arno Soheil Pedram, with assistance from DeepL AI
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