Former member of Morsi’s government Essam al-Haddad completes 10 year sentence, faces new charges

Essam al-Haddad, a prominent former member of the Muslim Brotherhood, was due to be released this year after serving a 10 year prison sentence.

But instead, the 70-year-old was summoned from his cell for investigation regarding charges in a new case by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, said the Egyptian Network for Human Rights (ENHR). The prosecution has also issued orders for Haddad to be held in remand detention for 15 days, said ENHR.

Haddad, who was a foreign relations aide to deceased former President Mohamed Morsi, was arrested on July 3, 2013. In 2015, he was convicted in a criminal trial that sentenced him to life imprisonment on charges of espionage for Hamas and membership in an unlawful group. The Court of Cassation later overturned the verdict.

In 2019, Haddad was acquitted of espionage charges but sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges of membership in an unlawful group.

Speaking to the press, a member of Haddad's defense team said that they had been in the middle of legal procedures to secure his release at the end of his sentence. They said that the prosecution then summoned him for a new investigation in Case 2215/2021 — a case that neither Haddad nor his defense team had been notified of until now.

Haddad was questioned by the prosecution on Thursday and Saturday about charges identical to those on which he served his ten year sentence, said the source.

In their statement, ENHR described what is happening to Haddad as “rotation,” a practice that allows for hundreds of detainees in political cases to be added to new investigations, letting authorities circumvent release dates.

ENHR said that throughout the years of his imprisonment, Haddad has endured "serious violations, complete isolation from the outside world, prevention of visits and fatal detention conditions that nearly led to his death.”