Amnesty International (AI) has accused Egyptian authorities of silencing critics and restricting public access to information in the run-up to elections.
Egyptian authorities should stop harassing candidates and their supporters, said the London-based rights group, accusing the Egyptian government of mass arrests and silencing critics before the country's November 28 parliamentary elections.
Egyptian security forces have reportedly arrested over a thousand activists from the biggest opposition bloc, the Muslim Brotherhood, but senior members of the country's ruling party, the National Democratic Party, have dismissed such reports.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) also voiced similar concerns about intimidating candidates as well as voters and criticized fresh restrictions that have been imposed on the opposition.
"The combination of restrictive laws, intimidation, and arbitrary arrests is making it extremely difficult for citizens to choose freely the people they want to represent them in parliament," according to a 24-page report presented by HRW's Deputy Middle East Director Joe Stork.
"Repression by the government makes free and fair elections extremely unlikely this weekend," said Stork, quoting the report.
"Four days before the elections, 123 organizations in two of the main monitoring coalitions have yet to receive a single one of the 2,229 permits they requested," he added.
The Muslim Brotherhood said in a statement released on Sunday that the Egyptians considered a threat to public order or security, have faced arrest, detention, criminal charges and the threat of detention without charge or trial under the emergency law.
It also said that over 1,200 of its activists have been arrested as of Sunday.
"Newspapers whose reports the authorities consider politically-sensitive have been seized or destroyed. Media sources say a dozen Egyptian satellite television channels have been suspended," the organization added in its statement.
