May 12 , 2025
Early May marked the beginning of the trials of defendants referred to the terrorism circuit courts over the past eight months, a development which has thus far underscored the absence of the rule of law in Egypt while reinforcing the public’s loss of confidence in the justice system. Over 6000 people in at least 186 cases were referred to the terrorism courts by the Supreme State Security Prosecution during this eight-month period, which portends the coming of mass verdicts following trials lacking any semblance of justice.
The undersigned organizations call for the release of all people detained in these cases in retaliation for their political views, while demanding that the court adhere to due process standards and respect the rights of all defendants in these cases, most notably the presumption of innocence, the rights to a defense and public hearing, and, in the case of sentencing, the deduction of time spent in pretrial detention from any prison term. To ensure transparency and accountability, we further demand that representatives of the media and local and international civil society organizations be allowed to attend and monitor the trial sessions.
International and local human rights organizations have expressed grave concern about trials before the terrorism circuits, emphasizing that these courts’ compliance with international standards must be ensured, given their blighted record of due process violations and failure to uphold judicial independence and integrity. The unprecedented expansion of terrorism circuits has thus far had devastating impacts on citizens’ right to a fair trial before an independent judiciary, as documented by rights organizations.
Referring thousands of political prisoners to trial before terrorism circuits has been the authorities’ disingenuous response aimed at circumventing growing demands from international and United Nations bodies to end the arbitrary and punitive use of pretrial detention and release political detainees. Instead of addressing the core issues behind the country’s judicial crisis through legal measures that guarantee justice and freedom and end the retaliatory prosecution of dissidents, the authorities have simply moved political prisoners to exceptional courts, which are tainted even more deeply marred by politicization and due process violations. Moreover, the judicial system is ill-equipped, in terms of capacity and procedural structure, to handle the current volume of cases. The large-scale funneling of political cases into terrorism circuit courts directly undermines the course of justice and efforts at judicial reform in Egypt, while stripping the litigation process of any rights-based substance.
Trials before terrorism circuits are marred by grave violations. Defendants are denied direct contact with their lawyers, public access to hearings is restricted, and media and civil society representatives are not given access by the authorities to provide independent monitoring of the trials. Defendants’ complaints of torture and enforced disappearance are disregarded by the courts, which rely exclusively on notoriously fabricated National Security investigations to formulate their verdicts. The increasing use of such courts not only reflects a blatant disregard for international standards, but it also systematically undermines the very concept of the rule of law in Egypt and perpetuates a general climate of fear and impunity.
While reiterating our profound concern at the scale of case referrals to terrorism circuits, we demand that the Egyptian authorities:
- Guarantee the right of all defendants to a fair, independent, and public trial, in accordance with Article 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which Egypt has ratified, and Article 96 of the Egyptian Constitution, which states, ‘The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a fair, legal trial’.
- Release all people detained on political grounds and for those sentenced, deduct time spent in pretrial detention from the sentencing, in compliance with international standards that prohibit the punitive use of pretrial detention, and in accordance with the recommendations of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.
- Halt the referral of politically motivated cases to terrorism circuits, in line with the right to a fair trial as enshrined in Article 96 of the Egyptian Constitution and the recommendations of the UN Human Rights Committee.
- Enable civil society organizations and the media to monitor trial sessions, in the interests of promoting transparency and in compliance with the right to a public trial, set forth in Article 14(1) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
- Refrain from using the judiciary as a means of political punishment, which contravenes the principle of the separation of powers set forth in Article 184 of the Egyptian Constitution. Weaponizing the judiciary to retaliate against political opponents directly erodes citizens’ confidence in the judicial system and undermines the legitimacy of law throughout Egypt.
Signatory organizations
- Egyptian Human Rights Forum
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- Law and Democracy Support Foundation
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights
- Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
- EgyptWide for Human Rights
- Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms
- El Nadeem Center
- Sinai Foundation for Human Rights
- Ankh Association