Injustice Behind Bars: Detainees in Egypt Punished Before Being Proven Guilty

13-07-2023

Perla Khaled

Middle East and Human Rights Researcher 

Global Human Rights Defence

Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution has recently taken after courts and resorted to conducting remote detention renewal sessions for pretrial detainees, in a series of actions that have gradually secluded prisoners and concealed human rights abuses in Egyptian prisons. [1]

In compliance with articles 142 and 143 of Egypt’s Criminal Procedural Code, prosecutors can independently require the detention of suspects for up to 150 days before holding judicial reviews. [2] This renders pretrial hearings indispensable to uphold impartial justice, particularly noting that authorities frequently keep detainees in pretrial detention beyond the two-year limit instituted by Egyptian law. [3]

Egyptian courts have relied on remote pretrial detention hearings since 2022, which has exacerbated long-standing prevalent violations and undermined detainees’ right to a fair trial enshrined in Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. [4] Through video conference technology, the defendant, who is taken to a designated hall within the prison, communicates with the judges, lawyers, and prosecutors, who convene in the courtroom. [5]

In 2021, the Minister of Justice’s Decree No. 8901 authorised utilising technology to hold pretrial detention renewal hearings while “observing all legal guarantees'' albeit no elaboration was provided on the nature of these guarantees nor the situations in which remote sessions can be instrumentalised. [6] Today, Egypt still lacks an explicit legal framework that governs remote hearings, and the Minister of Justice disputed the necessity to introduce a distinct law or amendment in that regard. [7] This obscurity culminates in an inherently abusive system that is exploited by those in power to cover up human rights violations behind prison bars. According to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ Human Rights Committee, detainees have the right to be physically present in court, especially when “such presence would serve the inquiry into the lawfulness of detention or where questions regarding ill-treatment of the detainee arise.” [8]

Interviews conducted by Human Rights Watch have revealed that lawyers and detainees often have insufficient time to speak during online hearings, and cases involving more than one detainee are reviewed collectively, overlooking individual legal situations. Similarly, sessions are sometimes unexpectedly ended by the judge, cancelling the remaining hearings for that detention facility. [9] In March of 2023, online pretrial detention renewal hearings were called off for a month in Badr 3 prison under the guise of “technical issues.” Throughout the same period, letters leaked from inside the prison revealed that several inmates were prompted to go on a hunger strike or attempt to commit suicide due to poor living conditions as well as accumulating violations and instances of physical and psychological torture. [10] 

More often than not, detainees are reluctant to disclose detention abuses, as they fear retaliation from prison officers who are present with them in the room during the hearings and administer their day-to-day lives. When detainees do speak up about prison conditions, they tend to be muted by the judges, and some detainees have been removed from video meetings for “talking too much” amid complaints about the prison conditions. [11] In one incident, an online hearing was abruptly ended after the detainee revealed that one of the inmates with them had passed away. [12]

In recent years, Egyptian officials have frequently isolated detainees and arbitrarily prevented them from communicating with their lawyers or receiving family visits, sometimes for up to eight years. [13] Nevertheless, previous in-person hearings granted a unique chance for prisoners to leave their cells and briefly speak with their lawyers and see their loved ones from the cells inside the courtrooms. These small exchanges have ceased in light of online hearings, hindering confidential conversations between lawyers and their clients and subverting the right to legal counsel. Additionally, some people reported questioning whether their detained relatives were dead or alive due to the lack of correspondence and their isolation from the outside world. [14]

In line with Rules 58 and 61 of the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, detainees must be permitted to regularly contact their relatives and friends, whether in writing or by other means, in addition to receiving visits. They must also be granted sufficient time and opportunity to confidentially consult with a legal adviser without delay, interception, or censorship and in full confidentiality, out of hearing of prison staff. [15]

Since President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi took power in 2014, an estimated 60,000 people have been held in extended arbitrary pretrial detention, the majority of which are political prisoners arrested for exercising their rights to peaceful freedom of speech or political affiliation. [16] In accordance with international law, pretrial detention must constitute an exception and be imposed as an alternative to non-custodial measures only when mandatory. [17] However, Egypt represents one of many countries where pretrial detention is systematically exploited to punish critics.

Egyptian authorities must urgently reform the country’s pretrial detention system and lay out clear guidelines for the remote detention renewal system. Upholding justice and the right to a fair trial are contingent primarily on the substantial examination of evidence and access to regular correspondence with a lawyer. Equally important, detainees must be granted the chance to receive family visits and remain in contact with their loved ones, in addition to protection from ill-treatment and torture.

Unless current prison conditions are reversed, thousands of prisoners will remain at risk due to deep-rooted practices of abuse that gravely infringe on detainees’ rights. Allowing prisoners to speak up during pretrial detention hearings is crucial to fight prevailing injustice behind bars and ensure that convicts are not locked up for years prior to being proven guilty. 

Sources and further reading:

[1] Adam Coogle, Human Rights Watch, ‘Egypt Using Remote Hearings to Isolate Prisoners’ (06 July 2023) <https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/07/06/egypt-using-remote-hearings-isolate-prisoners> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[2] Manshurat, ‘قانون الإجراءات الجنائية رقم 150 لسنة 1950’ <https://manshurat.org/node/14676> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[3] Human Rights Watch, ‘Egypt: Hunger Strike Against Indefinite Detention’ (25 February 2022) <https://www.hrw.org/news/2022/02/25/egypt-hunger-strike-against-indefinite-detention> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[4] United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, ‘International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights’ <https://www.ohchr.org/en/instruments-mechanisms/instruments/international-covenant-civil-and-political-rights> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[5] The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy, ‘Remote Hearings, Detention, and the Pandemic in MENA’ (23 April 2021) <https://timep.org/2021/04/23/remote-hearings-detention-and-the-pandemic-in-the-mena-region/> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[6] Human Rights Watch, ‘Egypt: Pretrial Detention Renewals by Video’ (26 May 2023) <https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/26/egypt-pretrial-detention-renewals-video> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[7] Supra note 5.

[8] United Nations Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner, ‘General comment No. 35 on Article 9, Liberty and security of person’ (Paragraph V (42)) (<https://www.ohchr.org/en/calls-for-input/general-comment-no-35-article-9-liberty-and-security-person> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[9] Human Rights Watch, ‘Egypt: Pretrial Detention Renewals by Video’ (26 May 2023) <https://www.hrw.org/news/2023/05/26/egypt-pretrial-detention-renewals-video> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[10] Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, ‘بعد أسابيع من انقطاع أخبارهم: نزلاء سجن بدر 3 يستغيثون بالقاضي والنيابة لإنقاذهم’ 

(14 March 2023) <http://bitly.ws/LhsP > accessed 12 July 2023. 

[11] Supra note 6.

[12] Egyptian Front for Human Rights, ‘دوائر تجديد الحبس التلقائي: تقرير رصدي حول أداء دوائر الإرهاب في مرحلة ما قبل المحاكمة خلال عام 2022’ (January 2023) <https://egyptianfront.org/ar/2023/01/tcc-2022-annual/> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[13] Amnesty International, ‘Egypt: Allow prison visits and other communication for detained defenders and political opponents without discrimination’ (19 August 2020) <https://www.amnesty.org/en/latest/press-release/2020/08/egypt-allow-prison-visits-and-other-communication-for-detained-defenders-and-political-opponents-without-discrimination/> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[14] Supra note 6.

[15] United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, ‘The United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners’ <https://www.unodc.org/documents/justice-and-prison-reform/Nelson_Mandela_Rules-E-ebook.pdf> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[16] Thaer Mansour, The New Arab, ‘Egypt had at least 60,000 political prisoners since Sisi took power: NYT’ (19 July 2022) <https://www.newarab.com/news/egypt-had-least-60000-political-prisoners-nyt> accessed 12 July 2023. 

[17] Penal Reform International, ‘Pre-Trial Justice’ <https://www.penalreform.org/issues/pre-trial-justice/issue/> accessed 12 July 2023.