On the sidelines of his participation at the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt, held in Geneva this week, Hossam Bahgat, the executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR), held several meetings, including two separate meetings on 29 January with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Türk, and the President of the United Nations Human Rights Council, Ambassador Jörg Lauber.

Bahgat briefed the two officials on recent developments in the human rights situation in Egypt over the few months leading up to the UPR session held on 28 January, and provided details on the renewed security crackdown on EIPR days before the session, referring to the new criminal case initiated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) against Bahgat on terrorism charges.

The SSSP had summoned Bahgat on 20 January and placed him under arrest before ormally charging him with the three criminal offences of (1) using the EIPR rights activism to aid an unspecified terrorist organization in achieving its goals, (2) financing a terrorist organization through immaterial support in the form of EIPR publications and activities, and (3) deliberately spreading false news, statements and rumours abroad about the Egyptian domestic situation for the purpose of “weakening financial confidence in the state or its prestige and reputation, and harming the national interests of the country”. The 2015 terrorism law punishes the second charge with the death penalty. The SSSP released Bahgat on bail pending investigation into the case.

EIPR additionally filed a complaint with the President of the UN Human Rights Council, in his capacity as the focal point for acts of reprisals against those cooperating with UN mechanisms. A similar complaint was filed to the UN Assistant Secretary-General, in charge of the same mechanism, about the new case initiated against him.

In the short period before the UPR session, EIPR submitted five separate reports to the mechanism, including a an individual report that provided an overview of the deteriorating human rights situation since the previous review in 2019. The other four collective reports included one on systematic violations within the criminal justice system, such as torture, enforced disappearances, unfair trials and poor detention conditions;  a report on human rights defenders and the abuse of terrorism laws to punish them; a third report tackling the crisis of the rights of women and girls; and a fourth devoted to violations of digital rights and the freedom of expression and media. 

Bahgat also participated as a panelist in the UPR pre-session in Geneva last November, where he presented a report on the unprecedented deterioration of economic and social rights in Egypt during the review period. EIPR recently made two joint submissions to the special mechanisms of the Human Rights Council, following which two joint communications by special rapporteurs were issued to the Egyptian government last month, one addressing the serious flaws of the new draft criminal procedures code, with the other offering a detailed analysis of the violations stemming from the new asylum law passed last month. EIPR also issued a commentary on the government's UPR report, entitled "Parallel Reality".

The new case (No. 6 of 2025 - Supreme State Security) is the fourth over the past four years, and the fifth against EIPR based solely on its human rights activism. In December 2020, three EIPR directors, Mohamed Basheer, Karim Ennara and Gasser Abdel Razek, were arrested for their work at EIPR. Despite their release, they remain banned from travel, and their personal assets and bank accounts are still frozen. In 2021, an Egyptian court convicted Bahgat of "insulting the National Elections Authority". In 2023, an emergency court sentenced Patrick Zaki, an EIPR researcher, to three years in prison for an article he published about the situation of Christians in Egypt, after spending nearly two years in detention, and before receiving a presidential pardon. EIPR was also investigated for 13 years in the infamous Case No. 173, in which Bahgat was banned from travel and his assets were frozen for eight years, until the case was closed less than a year ago for lack of evidence.