Egypt accused of ‘recycling’ cases against dissidents
Pre-trial detention can last up to two years under Egyptian law, but the period is often extended after new charges are introduced.
Egyptian human rights groups on Saturday accused the
authorities of "recycling" judicial cases against dissidents to
prolong their periods of detention.
"Recycling cases occurs when a new case is brought by
the prosecution against someone who has already been released for another case
or is still serving a previous sentence, often times in pre-trial
detention," the six groups said in a joint statement.
Pre-trial detention can last up to two years under Egyptian
law, but the period is often extended.
"The new cases are in effect simply revived or renewed
versions of the old cases against the defendants," the groups said.
They called for prosecutors to "carry out their roles
in investigation and collecting evidence, instead of relying on state security
investigations".
The groups pointed to a specific case of defendants being
re-tried on new charges while in jail or when they were about to be released.
A prominent detainee in the case, along with several
activists and journalists, is award-winning human rights lawyer Mahienour
el-Massry, who was arrested in September 2019 charged with joining a
"terror group".
On August 31, investigators charged her on the very same
accusation, effectively extending her detention.
"State security authorities in Egypt routinely and relentlessly
apply this practice of 'recycling cases'
or 'renewed arbitrary arrest' ... as soon as a decision to release them
(dissidents) is issued or before the legal period for their pre-trial detention
has expired," the groups said.
In a 2019 interview with the US television programme 60
Minutes, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said no political prisoners were held
in Egyptian jails.
According to several NGOs, however, an estimated 60,000
detainees in Egypt are political prisoners.
They include secular activists, journalists, lawyers,
academics and Islamists arrested in a crackdown on dissent ever since the
army's 2013 overthrow the country's first democratically-elected president,
Mohamed Morsi.
BS
