Thousands of Egyptians, including minors, are facing trial in mass terrorism cases referred over the past eight months, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said, warning of grave threats to due process and judicial credibility.
In a statement released Monday, EIPR said more than 6,000 individuals had been referred to trial in 186 separate cases since September 2024. Over half of the defendants remain in pretrial detention, the group added.
According to the statement, the majority of the cases stem from alleged incidents that occurred between 2015 and 2024. EIPR called for a review of all trial referral orders before court dates are set, to avoid retrying individuals for the same alleged crimes.
"We are entering a critical and unprecedented phase," the organization said, warning that upcoming court sessions will involve mass trials in dozens of cases. "Defense teams will be denied access to case files, threatening the basic guarantees of a fair trial."
The statement also noted that just 20 of the cases have begun proceedings so far. Without a clear schedule, thousands remain in pretrial detention indefinitely, it added.
EIPR described the current situation as "critical and unprecedented," warning it could erode the remaining credibility of Egypt's justice system, especially with some defendants facing charges that may lead to the death penalty.
The statement also expressed concern over the use of remote trials under Egypt's revised Criminal Procedure Law, arguing it isolates defendants from their lawyers and obstructs witness confrontation.
"Who will try more than 6,000 people at once?" the statement asked, concluding that the current procedures fall far short of the minimum standards of justice.
EIPR expects the cases to be handled by two terrorism courts at the Badr Courts Complex, acting as first-instance courts. Neither court has issued a single release order for pretrial detainees since their formation this judicial year, the statement said.
Instead, the courts have issued "thousands of detention renewal orders, often in legally questionable sessions that lacked even minimal procedural safeguards."
Al Manassa was among the first to cover the issue in January, reporting that the Supreme State Security Prosecution had referred about 100 new cases—spanning thousands of defendants—to just two terrorism courts under the Cairo Court of Appeal.
At the time, three defense lawyers said the move risked clogging the judiciary and prolonging detention indefinitely.
EIPR also raised concerns about the appeals process. If verdicts are issued during the current judicial year, appeals would be reviewed by a single court district, headed by former prosecutor general Hamada El-Sawy. During his tenure, the State Security Prosecution investigated many of the referred cases.
This, EIPR said, constitutes a direct violation of Article 247 of Egypt's Code of Criminal Procedure, which bars judges from reviewing cases in which they acted as prosecutors.
In light of these developments, EIPR called on the current prosecutor general to uphold the law by immediately releasing all individuals who have exceeded the legal maximum for pretrial detention.
The organization urged the Cairo Court of Appeal to assign more judicial court districts to hear the referred cases and set clear timelines for proceedings. It also stressed the importance of re-examining charges and legal classifications.
EIPR urged lawmakers to revise Egypt's counterterrorism law, stressing the need to bring it in line with constitutional standards and limit its scope to avoid sweeping applications against civilians and minors.
The group called for all hearings to be conducted in person, with defendants guaranteed full access to legal representation and case files. Defense lawyers, it said, must be involved in proceedings from the outset.
EIPR also urged President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi and Parliament to invoke Article 76 of the Penal Code to issue a general amnesty—especially for detainees accused of nonviolent offenses.
Since the start of the crisis in January, 10 human rights organizations have denounced the Supreme State Security Prosecution for referring hundreds of long-term detainees—some held for over six years—to terrorism courts instead of releasing them.
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms echoed these concerns in February, saying the move to mass-referral of politically tinged cases violates human rights and sidesteps the need for genuine reform of Egypt's longstanding pretrial detention crisis.
