Egypt's Supreme State Security Prosecution keeps detainees past the two-year pretrial limit and refers new political cases to terrorism courts, rights groups report
Subject of this story
Also named
What happened
Egypt's Criminal Procedure Code sets a two-year maximum for pretrial detention (Article 143), but the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies documented detainees held more than six years. It reported the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred at least 90 political cases to terrorism courts in the last quarter of 2024, more than in roughly the previous decade. Human Rights Watch reports authorities bring new, nearly identical cases against detainees ("rotation") to keep them in detention, a practice the UN human rights chief criticized in August 2025. HRW also reports about 6,000 people faced terrorism trials by May 2025, over half after months or years in pretrial detention.
By the numbers (1)
● confirmed by a primary document · ○ reported
Figures
1 source
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred no less than 90 political cases
Sources (3)
Response
Not yet contacted for this story.
What happened next (0)
No outcome recorded yet.