Last year the brutally battered body of a young Italian PhD student, Giulio Regeni, was found outside Cairo. He had been under constant surveillance by Egypt’s police, who could use the latest digital tools from European companies to track his every word and movement.

The 4 billion Euro market in European-produced surveillance technology has become dictators’ tool of choice to persecute and silence voices of change. Thousands of innocent men and women have been imprisoned, tortured, and sometimes even killed as a result of these technologies. Yet, companies are free to sell such equipment to almost anyone, anywhere.

But we can change all that.

In a few weeks, the European Parliament will vote on a decision to stop digital weapons from getting into the hands of evil governments. But the European parliament won’t implement a strong law unless millions of us tell them enough is enough - let’s speak up in the name of Gullio and the tens of thousands who have been silenced.