Egypt renews detention of 1,150 political prisoners in mass ruling

Egyptian lawyer Nabih El Genady announced yesterday that the terrorism division of a criminal court has renewed the detention of 1,148 political figures.

El Genady explained that the detainees’ cases were divided across two sessions, with 532 in the first session and 616 in the second session. All of the defendants’ detention renewal orders were reviewed in one week.

Egypt’s terrorism courts are responsible for the detention of individuals on political grounds.

Human rights organisations continue to warn about the dangers of anti-terrorism legislation on rights and freedoms. Between 2015 and 2022, Egyptian courts arbitrarily listed 4,620 Egyptian citizens, including politicians and human rights defenders, as terrorists without trial, based on state security investigations.

In 2022, the terrorism courts ordered the continued detention of nearly 25,000 individuals, including human rights defenders, journalists and peaceful activists, releasing only 1.41 per cent of them, according to human rights organisations.

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