Urgent appeal from behind bars… Stop the waste of the lives of detainees pending trial
Urgent appeal from behind bars… Stop the waste of the lives of detainees pending trial
An appeal, a plea, and a call
from detainees pending trial
To the leaders of the homeland and opinion leaders:
To the leaders of the homeland and opinion leaders:
- His Eminence the Grand Imam of Al-Azhar Al-Sharif, esteemed scholars and jurists.
- Esteemed leaders of civil society, professional and labor unions, and human rights associations. - Esteemed men of law, judges and lawyers.
- Esteemed scholars and researchers, and members of teaching faculties.
- The Egyptian people in all their diversity, and everyone who has an opinion, influence, and a living conscience.
We urge you to intervene urgently in order to:
1. Stop the ongoing squandering of years and energies.
2. Apply true justice.
3. End division, and political revenge against opponents.
4. Protect the state and its national institutions.
The reality of detainees pending trial for years:
Because justice is now at a crossroads; on the eve of the supposed implementation of the new Criminal Procedure Law on 1 October 2026, we have begun to lose the spirit of hope, and doubts have assailed us as case referrals to trial courts accelerate, and hearings are held at a rushed pace that does not comply with even the minimum standards of justice.
Urgent demands
We urge all of you to intervene in order to:
- Form a judicial fact-finding committee from the Supreme Judicial Council, the Court of Cassation and the Court of Appeal, and the Public Prosecution, to examine cases of the State Security Prosecution based on “investigation reports only,” without any corroborating indications or evidence, or seized items, or real events and occurrences that warrant legal accountability and prosecution.
- Halt the work of the two State Security criminal circuits that have issued thousands of detention orders without justification, relying on the investigation reports of the officers sent in, and without accepting the defendants’ submissions or hearing witnesses for the defense, amid weak evidence for proving guilt and the absence of facts, confessions, and seized items; as well as their refusal to carry out mandatory release orders.
- Immediate release of all detainees pending trial who have exceeded the maximum legal period.
- Replace pretrial detention with the alternatives stipulated by law.
- Ensure that defendants released pending trial are not re-cycled onto new cases after their release.
It is time to turn the page on the past through:
- Ending political hostility through reconciliation and impartial, unabridged justice.
- Helping the detainees spend the remainder of their years with their spouses, children, fathers, and mothers.
#Pretrial_Detention
#AlShehab_Center_for_Human_Rights