Rights organisations in a number of Arab countries have called on their governments and the EU to stop dealing with G4S, a multinational company that provides security services. The 19 signatory organizations said the company supports Israeli occupation through the supply of equipment used to suppress the Palestinian people.
In Egypt, the same company secures the underground metro.
In a joint statement issued on Tuesday, the rights organizations said the company also supplies Israeli prisons with equipment to use against Palestinian prisoners via the branch operating inside the occupied territories, Hashmira. The statement also points to the company's privision to Israeli forces of barriers and security equipment to use at checkpoints in the West Bank.
The statement was signed by organizations from Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Palestine. The Egyptian organizations include the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, the Hesham Mubarak Law Center, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression.
The statement also said that G4S has not heeded Palestinian calls to refrain from involvement in Israeli crimes.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
