German federal police have warned their nation’s delegation to the COP27 environment summit in Egypt that its members could be subject to espionage by Egyptian security agents, three people with knowledge of the matter said.
In an email sent on Saturday, the police known in Germany as the BKA warned delegates of “direct and covert surveillance through photography and videography” by Egyptian agents, one of the people cited in the email said. .
The person said German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s comments last week about Egypt’s human rights record provoked the threat of surveillance.
Reuters did not see the email sent by police. Two other officials in Germany confirmed the existence of the alert, although they declined to elaborate on its specific wording.
There was no immediate response to requests for comment from Egypt’s COP27 presidency or the state information service, which handles relations with foreign media.
A spokesman for German police declined to comment.
In a warning, police said that representatives may have recorded their conversations and that people close to the Egyptian state may “through provocative actions” attempt to disrupt events organized by the Germans, police said in a warning, quoted by email.
Three German attendees at COP27, from non-governmental organizations and industry, said they had received verbal warnings from other attendees and delegations of potential surveillance.
Two members of the NGO told Reuters what they see as suspicious activity that has occurred on several occasions in recent days, including being photographed and followed. One was Susan Scherberth of the German Association for the Environment and Nature Conservation. The second was with Climate Action Network but wished anonymity. Reuters was unable to independently verify their accounts.
A German foreign ministry official said it expected participants “to be able to work and interact in safe conditions”.
“We are in constant talks with the Egyptian side for this,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Scholz said on Tuesday that he COP27 Hosts the issue of jailed hunger striker Alaa Abd al-Fattah, a prominent activist and blogger sentenced to five years for spreading false news.
Scholz told reporters, “The decision needs to be made, a release must be possible, so that it does not come to the point that the hunger striker dies.”
The Egyptian government has said that prison officials will provide medical care to Abd al-Fattah.
The text of this story is published from a wire agency feed without any modification.
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