UNODC's Terrorism Prevention Branch continues to provide technical assistance to Egyptian criminal justice and law enforcement officers on countering the use of the Internet for recruiting, training and facilitating the travel of foreign terrorist fighters (FTFs). The Branch aimed to enhance the special investigation techniques of the aforementioned officials in investigating such crimes. In that respect, a national workshop for Egypt on increasing the capacity of criminal justice officers to use special investigation techniques to counter terrorist activities on the Internet, in the context of FTFs, was organized in Cairo on 18-20 December 2017.
In addition to the Egyptian experts who intervened during the event, several national, regional and international experts representing Jordan, Lebanon, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, the United Nations Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, Facebook and the League of Arab States, also contributed their knowledge throughout the course of the event. Thirty Judges, prosecutors and law enforcement officers specialized in counter-terrorism matters attended the event and shared their experience with the participating experts.
Thorough discussions that took place during the event helped introduce participants to best practices in investigating crimes involving the use of the Internet for terrorism purposes, in the context of FTFs. Furthermore, experiences in dealing with challenges during international cooperation and obtaining information from social media platforms and telecommunication companies were also shared. As a follow-up to the event, further technical assistance programmes are currently being developed.
The workshop was part of the five-year initiative on strengthening the legal regime against FTFs in the Middle East, North Africa and Southern Europe, generously funded by the European Union.