Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution freed Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights research director Karim Ennarah on personal bail hours after his arrest in El Alamein on Wednesday, pending a new investigation.
State prosecutors have bought new charges against Ennarah, accusing him of joining an illegal organization, broadcasting false news, and using a website to commit the alleged offense, according to an EIPR statement posted to Facebook.
EIPR’s director, Hossam Bahgat, told Al Manassa that police stopped Ennarah at dawn at a checkpoint near a resort on the North Coast and asked to search his phone. He refused, was briefly detained, then released.
“After he finished visiting a patient at El Alamein Hospital, the same officers who stopped him at the checkpoint were waiting outside, arrested him and switched off his phone,” Bahgat explained.
Karim’s family searched police stations across the North Coast; all denied holding him. He appeared around 2:30 pm before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in New Cairo.
Prior detentions and ongoing restrictions
Ennarah was taken into custody on Nov. 18, 2020, along with EIPR's then–executive director Gasser Abdel Razek, and administrative manager Mohamed Bashir.
In Case No. 855 of 2020, prosecutors charged them of membership in a terrorist organization despite knowing its aims, spreading false information that could disrupt public order and harm the public interest, and using a private internet account to circulate false news. The three were held in pretrial detention before their release two weeks later, on Dec. 3, 2020.
In November 2024, EIPR filed a grievance with the Supreme Judicial Council over continued “punitive measures” against three of its directors, including asset freezes, travel bans, and property seizures without trial or investigation. This coincides with the end of the fourth year since those decisions were issued.
Other arrests the same day
On Wednesday, activist Nael Hassan appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution after being arrested at dawn from his home in Ismailia, according to what rights lawyer Mahienour El-Massry said on Facebook.
Activist Ahmed Khalifa was also arrested from his home in Alexandria the same day and later released along with Hassan, according to El-Massry.
Hassan had been previously detained in Alexandria on April 21, 2017, accused of joining a group seeking to overthrow the state, promoting terrorism through publications, and using a website to spread extremist views in cooperation with the Muslim Brotherhood. Khalifa had also spent nearly four years in pretrial detention across several prisons before his release.
International backdrop
Last month, the UN Human Rights Council adopted Egypt’s Universal Periodic Review report. Egypt’s delegate said the government accepted 281 of 343 recommendations, including 45 already in place.
EIPR's Hossam Bahgat countered that officials were painting an alternate reality. He noted that recommendations addressed torture, repeated use of pretrial detention, political arrests, enforced disappearances, restrictive laws, prosecutions of journalists and rights defenders, curbs on women’s rights, and cuts to social spending.
