The Supreme State Security Prosecution on Tuesday ordered the release of four people held in pretrial detention in cases tied to protests supporting Palestine, rights lawyer Khaled Ali told Al Manassa. The four are Ali Abu Al-Magd, Beshoy Tawfiq, Mario Abdel Nour, and Ahmed Abu Astet.
Ali said they had been detained since taking part in 2023 protests in Cairo against the Israeli assault on Gaza, adding that most had exceeded the legal two-year maximum for pretrial detention.
The release order comes as rights advocates in mid-March said Egyptian authorities were still holding 131 people in 13 cases linked to peaceful expressions of support for Palestine, with nearly half of them at or beyond the legal detention limit.
Asked whether Tuesday’s decision covered names beyond the four, Ali said, “During the National Dialogue, and before that with the Presidential Pardon Committee, the prosecution used to keep those in charge informed with lists of those being released as these decisions came out. That no longer happens, and now we have to ask the prosecution every day to find out who has been released.”
The rights lawyer said he had often learned of release decisions issued in recent months from the families of pretrial detainees, as the Public Prosecution had been notifying families and prison administrations of its decisions.
Tuesday’s release orders follow a decision by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on Monday to release Al-Sayed Ali Fahim Al-Azab, known as Sayed Mushagheb, leader of the Ultras White Knights fan group, along with political activists Sherif El-Roubi and Nermin Hussein.
The Public Prosecution said such decisions come “within the framework of directives from Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawky to prosecutors across the country on the need for periodic review of the legal status of defendants held in pretrial detention,” while stressing its “commitment to achieving balanced justice based on safeguarding rights and freedoms and ensuring the soundness of procedures, in a way that guarantees no defendant remains in pretrial detention without legal justification.”
In a statement issued on March 17, 2026, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) said authorities were still detaining seven children, two elderly women, including a 68-year-old doctor with chronic illnesses, and a young man with disabilities who has dwarfism in connection with Palestine-related cases, despite more than two years having passed since the start of the war in Gaza.
EIPR called on all authorities, led by the Prosecutor General and the head of the Cairo Court of Appeal, to intervene immediately to free those still in pretrial detention.
It said nearly half of those detainees had already exceeded, or were weeks away from reaching, the legal two-year maximum for pretrial detention, making their continued imprisonment “a clear violation of the law.”
The statement also highlighted humanitarian cases among those detained, including lawyer Mahmoud Nasser Dawoud, 34, who has been held for nearly two and a half years despite suffering from heart disease, diabetes, and a pulmonary blockage. He told his family he planned to begin a hunger strike in protest over his detention conditions.
EIPR also pointed to the case of engineer Sami Yehia El-Gendy, who has been held since October 2023. His mother, who has cancer, cannot visit him because his detention site in Wadi El-Natrun is too far from her home in Dakahliya, prompting calls for his transfer closer to his family.
Most of the arrests stem from the October 2023 protests, for actions such as raising street banners calling for the opening of the Rafah crossing, posting on social media, or praying for Palestine inside mosques, EIPR said.
It noted that although the activities align with Egypt’s officially declared support for Palestinian rights, the Supreme State Security Prosecution charged detainees under laws dating back to 1914 with offenses such as “joining a terrorist group” and “illegal assembly.”
EIPR said prosecutors have referred 73 defendants to trial in three cases, including 62 who remain in custody, but the Cairo Court of Appeal has yet to assign court circuits to hear them, leaving their detention open-ended.
