The Clooney Foundation for Justice (CFJ) and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP) released a report today highlighting the enormous hurdles that defense lawyers in Egypt face in representing individuals in pretrial detention. The two organizations call for urgent reforms ahead of Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review by the UN Human Rights Council.
CFJ and TIMEP interviewed 10 Egyptian defense lawyers who, combined, have represented over 1,000 clients in detention proceedings. The interviewees described numerous obstacles to their work and violations of human rights standards, exacerbated by a recent shift to virtual detention hearings that keep individuals confined to prison even during their hearings.
International and domestic laws view pretrial detention as an exceptional measure that, according to the UN Human Rights Committee, may be required “to prevent flight, interference with evidence, or the recurrence of crime.” But in practice, Egypt’s notoriously opaque pretrial detention process flouts these norms, particularly when it comes to politically-sensitive cases. In 2021, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (UNWGAD) raised concerns about “indefinite detention” being “the rule rather than the exception, contrary to international law.”
“Under President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, pretrial detention has turned from a measure of last resort into a potent weapon against dissent,” said Stephen Townley, Legal Director of TrialWatch.
The lawyers who were interviewed for this report said that pretrial detention hearings generally lasted less than ten minutes and that the prosecution seldom presented written justifications for ordering pretrial detention. One lawyer recounted being cut off by a judge as he was trying to argue for release, and told “not to speak on the merits of the case because the hearing [wa]s intended only to renew the detention and not to rule on the case.”
Lawyers also described how pretrial detention is often preceded by a period of enforced disappearance, during which they spend days or weeks trying to find out where their clients are being held. Once individuals surface, prosecutors are empowered to authorize their detention for up to 150 days in certain cases, without any court review. Detention is justified on vague grounds, including that “investigations are still ongoing” or that “the technical reports have not yet been issued.”
In politically-sensitive cases, proceedings are often held in the Supreme State Security Prosecutor’s Office, where lawyers cannot bring their devices. One lawyer said, “you are practically isolated from the outside world, which makes you feel neither safe nor secure.” As TIMEP and the International Commission of Jurists have documented previously, even as lawyers are navigating myriad restrictions in order to represent their clients, they sometimes face the risk of enforced disappearance and pretrial detention themselves.
“By targeting lawyers for their legal defense work, Egyptian authorities are bringing about a chilling effect on the practice of law and contributing to a serious deterioration in access to justice. Lawyers cannot be targeted for the essential role they place in society,” said Mai El-Sadany, Executive Director of TIMEP.
Originally introduced as a preventative measure during the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual pretrial detention renewal hearings have become the norm, making it impossible for lawyers to meet with their clients privately, and leaving defendants confined to their detention facilities without any break in the state’s control.
“The use of virtual hearings makes it even harder to contest pretrial detention, adding another obstacle to the course lawyers have to run as they try to represent their clients,” explained Stephen Townley.
TrialWatch and TIMEP call on Egypt to abide by its obligations under its own Constitution, domestic law, and its international and regional legal obligations. TrialWatch and TIMEP call on Egypt to ensure that independent and impartial courts review detentions, rather than prosecutors; that accused persons are able to be present at their hearings; that courts memorialize the grounds of their decisions in writing; and that accused persons are genuinely able to challenge the court’s decisions regarding their detention. TrialWatch and TIMEP further urge that lawyers be permitted to carry out their duties without intimidation or reprisal.
You can download the report in English here.
About the Clooney Foundation for Justice’s TrialWatch Initiative
TrialWatch monitors criminal trials globally against those who are most vulnerable—particularly journalists, democracy defenders, women and girls, LGBTQ+ persons, and minorities. TrialWatch’s work covers more than 40 countries and has led to persecuted individuals being freed or acquitted, and unfair laws reformed, in dozens of cases. TrialWatch is now building a Global Justice Index that will be the first to rank countries on their justice systems through real-world data.
About the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)
TIMEP is a policy institute that centers localized perspectives in the global discourse to foster transparent, accountable, and just societies in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. TIMEP works to ensure that the voices of experts and advocates from and in the region are heard, that their work is strengthened, and that they as individuals are protected. In doing so, it serves as a connective tissue to facilitate and carve out a space for these experts and advocates to play a more direct role in shaping and bringing about policies which deliver on the demands of people on-the-ground and which respond to their realities. In implementing its mission, TIMEP employs a diverse toolbox: research and analysis; advocacy and policy engagement; legal interventions; events; coalition and network-building.