Fears that Egypt may use Cop27 to whitewash human rights abuses

Naomi Klein and Caroline Lucas among signatories to letter voicing concerns over country's hosting of climate summit

A hundred days before the Cop27 summit is due to start in Sharm el-Sheikh, a group of environmentalists and activists have expressed alarm over Egypt's ability to host the event successfully because of its poor record on human rights, as thousands of prisoners of conscience remain behind bars.

We are deeply concerned that [a successful conference] will not be possible due to the repressive actions of the Egyptian government," they said. Indeed, it seems more likely at this point that the conference will be used to whitewash human rights abuses in the country."