Authorities remanded four defendants for an additional 15 days on Monday, following their arrest in a crackdown on Shiite citizens around the Ashura commemoration, according to the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF). The four are under investigation in Supreme State Security Case No. 5635 of 2026.
The defendants face charges of “joining a terrorist group and financing that group,” ECRF said. The group condemned what it called “a campaign of security persecution and arrests targeting Shiite citizens,” stating that it reflected continued “targeting based on religious affiliation” and raising concerns that counterterrorism laws and exceptional measures are being used to criminalize peaceful religious practice.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered 32 defendants held for an additional 15 days pending investigation in the same case last week.
The prosecution began questioning more than 20 Egyptians and foreign nationals in the same case on July 14 and 15, including Al Dostor photojournalist Haidar Kandil and his sister’s husband, Mostafa Al-Mubarak. The questioning took place in two separate proceedings, 23 days after their arrests, according to ECRF.
The commission said authorities arrested some of the detainees at their homes and took others from a Shiite gathering place in the Sayyida Zeinab district known as the “Hussaini Assembly.” It added that prosecutors ordered them held under the country's Terrorism Law.
The arrests began on June 21, when authorities detained Mostafa Al-Mubarak in Cairo. His brother-in-law, Haidar Kandil was arrested the next day on a street in Giza’s Dokki district.
Kandil’s family reported him missing on the evening of June 22 after he briefly left his workplace at Al Dostor newspaper in Giza. His wife, Asmaa Al-Nashar, told Al Manassa at the time that his disappearance was likely part of a security campaign targeting several Shiite citizens ahead of observance of Ashura.
Kandil appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution 22 days after he was reported missing. The prosecution ordered him held for 15 days pending investigation, Journalists Syndicate council member Eman Ouf wrote on Facebook at the time.
The detention renewals come amid repeated criticism from rights groups over the use of broad terrorism charges in cases involving freedom of opinion, expression, and belief.
Rights organization ARTICLE 19 warned in a late May statement of Egypt’s deteriorating human rights situation and the continued prosecution of journalists, artists, and human rights defenders through prolonged pretrial detention and trials that fall short of fair-trial standards.
