At least 16,000 people prosecuted in Egypt in political cases in 2020–2021, independent report

Over 16,000  in Egypt faced legal action in 2020 and 2021 in cases related to political activity, according to an independent report. 

The report, published by the Transparency Center for Archiving, Data Management and Research on March 23, included all governorates in Egypt except for North Sinai and documented 10,291 people who were arrested and or faced judicial action in political cases in 2020 and 5,733 in 2021. 

“Political cases” were defined in the report as those in which defendants face charges related to public affairs, such as strikes, political demonstrations as well as sports events. It identified frequently occurring charges in such cases, including “joining a terrorist group and seeking to overthrow the regime,” while false news charges and charges of financing a terrorist group were also levied frequently in the investigations recorded in the report. 

Of the total number of cases recorded, 56.7 percent of people were questioned by the State Security Prosecution, one person appeared before a military prosecutor, while the rest of the cases were investigated by the Public Prosecution.

Data for the report was collected through official media and civil society sources, though the authors acknowledge that the final figure does not account for the total number of people in Egypt who faced judicial action in political cases over the past two years.

While the report’s authors say they were able to document about 90 percent of political cases investigated by the State Security Prosecution, they faced challenges obtaining data in cases handled by the Public Prosecution, particularly in Damietta, Kafr al-Sheikh, and governorates in Upper Egypt and along the Suez Canal. The center cited multiple reasons for this, including lawyers being reluctant to speak about cases out of fear of prosecution.

The authors of the report noted that political cases in Cairo, North Sinai, Alexandria, Upper Egypt and governorates along the canal were usually handled by the State Security Prosecution, while the Public Prosecution handled cases for the remainder of the country but still under state security supervision.

Of the detainees documented in the report, 32.5 percent were later released while 30 remain in detention, while the authors could not obtain information about the fate of nearly 38 percent of them.