Egypt has recently been practising further human rights violations against journalists and political detainees, amid increasing restrictions on freedom of expression and arbitrary detention for long periods, in violation of national and international laws.
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate stated that the number of imprisoned journalists has risen to 24, with 15 journalists spending over 2 years of pretrial detention, in clear violation of Egyptian law that sets the maximum period for pretrial detention for 2 years only. The detention period of some journalists have reached five years without trial, which constitutes a flagrant violation of justice.
Political detainees also suffer from human rights and legal violations, as the prominent politician and engineer Yehia Hussein Abdel Hadi has been held in solitary confinement in prison, yet the Cairo Criminal Court renewed his detention for an additional 45 days pending investigations in Case No. 3916 of 2024.
The Public Prosecution charged Abdel Hadi with “joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and inciting terrorism,” which are charges often directed by the Egyptian regime against its critics in order to silence them.
During the trial session, Abdel Hadi expressed his severe mental, psychological and physical suffering from being held in solitary confinement and the lack of any contact with the outside world, in addition to being denied from receiving visits, even after suffering a severe heart attack for which he was transferred to intensive care for four days.
He was prevented from continuing to present his complaint during the session by silencing his microphone.
The defence team for Abdel Hadi demanded the inclusion of medical reports documenting his serious health condition, warning that his continued detention poses a real threat to his life, describing it as a “slow death.”
The defence team also called for his immediate release on health grounds with any guarantees, but the Public Prosecution rejected the request and issued a new decision to extend his detention.
Abdel Hadi was arrested after publishing an article criticizing the army’s silence, and was detained in the Tenth of Ramadan Prison after being accused of political cases.
Earlier, the former coordinator of the National Association for Change, Abdel Jalil Mustafa, filed a report with the Public Prosecutor stating that Abdel Hadi was kidnapped by individuals from the National Security, while he was on his way to attend a political symposium.
These cases demonstrate the escalation of violations against freedom of expression and basic rights in Egypt, despite increasing human rights calls for the immediate release of all journalists and political detainees, and an end to practices that threaten the lives of individuals and undermine the rule of law.
