The Chengdu Worldcon is collapsing from lack of organization, likely made worse by the need to satisfy the governmental authorities. A bid for Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, has fortunately been withdrawn. It’s hard to say whether China or Saudi Arabia is worse on human rights, but Saudi Arabia holds a clear edge in sheer brutality. Replacing the JeddahCon bid is one for PharaohCon in Cairo.

You don’t have to be a flaming libertarian to recognize that every country in the world has human rights issues. The question is how serious they are and how they would affect people attending the convention. Egypt isn’t as bad as Saudi Arabia or China, nor as good as the United States or Canada. How concerned should potential supporters be about what it is doing and might do?

Amnesty International doesn’t regard Egypt very highly. The government has launched a “National Human Rights Strategy,” but Amnesty sees it as more PR than substance.

The strategy lauds the constitutional and legal framework, while ignoring the authorities’ introduction and application of a series of repressive laws that effectively criminalize or severely restrict the exercise of the rights to freedom of expression, association and peaceful assembly. … The strategy also ignores the authorities’ dismal record since July 2013 of cracking down on dissent, with thousands still arbitrarily detained or unjustly prosecuted. In the past two years alone, dozens have died in prison following deliberate denial of healthcare and detention in cruel and inhuman conditions.

Human Rights Watch says:

Egypt under President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government has been experiencing one of its worst human rights crises in many decades. The government has tried to whitewash abuses but taken no serious steps to address the crisis. Tens of thousands of government critics, including journalists, peaceful activists, and human rights defenders, remain imprisoned on abusive “terrorism” charges, many in lengthy pretrial detention. Authorities harass and detain relatives of dissidents abroad and use vague “morality” charges to prosecute LGBT people, female social media influencers, and survivors of sexual violence.

Freedom House rates Egypt as “not free” and comments:

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, who first took power in a 2013 coup, has governed Egypt in an increasingly authoritarian manner. Meaningful political opposition is virtually nonexistent, as expressions of dissent can draw criminal prosecution and imprisonment. Civil liberties, including press freedom and freedom of assembly, are tightly restricted. Security forces engage in human rights abuses and extrajudicial killing with impunity. Discrimination against women, LGBT+ people, and other groups remain serious problems, as do high rates of sexual and gender-based violence.

LGBT people could be in physical danger.

Egyptian police and National Security Agency officers arbitrarily arrest lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people and detain them in inhuman conditions, systematically subject them to ill-treatment including torture, and often incite fellow inmates to abuse them, Human Rights Watch said today. Security forces routinely pick people off the streets based solely on their gender expression, entrap them through social networking sites and dating applications, and unlawfully search their phones. Prosecutors use this content to justify prolonged detentions as they rubber-stamp police reports and bring unjustified prosecutions against them.

It’s a shame. Egypt offers a huge amount of history. An Egyptian Worldcon would give attendees a chance to make a side trip to the Biblioteca Alexandrina, the modern revival of the Library of Alexandria, about 180 kilometers from Cairo. But is it really worth the risks attendees would face?