The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) calls for the immediate release of worker Hisham al-Banna, who was excluded from the release order issued in favour of the Samanoud Weaving and Textile workers. Those workers were arrested on 25 August after they staged a strike to demand their right to receive a minimum wage worth more than their salaries.

Samanoud Weaving and Textile workers staged a strike on 17 August after the company insisted not to pay them the minimum wage. EIPR welcomes the decision of the Mahalla al-Kubra Misdemeanor Court of Appeal to release seven workers on bail of 1,000 pounds each. However, it rejects the exclusion of al-Banna from the decision. It demands that all charges against all workers be dropped. It further stresses that strike action is a constitutional and legal right guaranteed to all citizens and may only be restricted within strict limits not exceeded by strikers. EIPR also calls for urgent intervention to end the evasion of many private and public companies from implementing the minimum wage.

The workers began their strike on 17 August, demanding a minimum wage of 6,000 pounds, in accordance with the Minister of Planning's decision No. 27 of 2024 issued on 7 April that set a minimum wage for private sector companies. Since Samanoud Weaving and Textile is considered a private company, although a number of public institutions owns the majority of its shares, it is subject to this binding decision. However, the company submitted a petition demanding its exclusion from the decision under the pretext of financial default, based on the second article of the ministerial decision, which allows for the exception of some economic establishments "if they are exposed to economic conditions that make it impossible to apply the minimum wage". Since the Ministry of Planning and Economic Development has not yet decided on the company's petition, it is incumbent upon the company to apply the decision immediately, as the mere submission of the petition does not count as a reason for not implementing the ministerial decision. As a result of the company's apparent procrastination, the workers already staged a strike after notifying the Ministry of Manpower and the Cabinet. 

Based on the investigations conducted by the investigation police and the National Security Agency, as well as the statements of the company's legal representative, the Samanoud District Prosecution issued arrest warrants against ten of the company's workers on charges of inciting the rest of the workers to stage a strike and rally. Eight of those wanted were arrested on 25 August from their homes, and the Public Prosecution charged them with incitement to deliberate disruption of one of the means of production with the intention of harming the national economy, which caused "serious damage to the country's economic position". The eight were also charged with incitement to a demonstration intending to breach security, disrupt production, and affect public utilities' functioning (in reference to the Samanoud Weaving and Textile). They were also charged with incitement to the gathering of more than five people, which put "public peace in danger", and failure to comply with the police's order to leave the gathering place. They were further charged with deliberately harming the company's funds and interests.

The prosecution remanded the defendants in custody for four days pending investigation. After the end of that period, the East Tanta Prosecution issued a decision on 28 August, remanding them for another 15 days. In early September, the Mahalla al-Kubra Misdemeanor Court of Appeal accepted the detainees' appeal against the decision to detain them. It released seven of the defendants on bail of 1,000 pounds each while keeping one defendant, Hisham al-Banna, in detention.

An EIPR lawyer attended the interrogation sessions with the detainees, as well as the appeal hearing. He argued that the accusation of inciting a strike was invalid since the strike action is a right guaranteed by Article 15 of the constitution and the Labor Law No. 12 of 2003, which regulates the call for a strike but does not prohibit it, except in specific cases related to strategic and vital facilities, in which a decision by the Cabinet shall be issued. The EIPR lawyer stressed the invalidity of the accusation of calling for a gathering, arguing that it was not based on any evidence or presumption but rather on the investigations conducted by the investigation police and the statements of the company's legal representative, especially since all the defendants were arrested from their homes or on public streets away from the company's headquarters. The EIPR lawyer also argued that there was no justification for holding the defendants in pretrial detention, considering that their residences are known, thus not fearing their escape, destroying the pieces of evidence or pressuring the witnesses.

EIPR stresses the need to immediately stop these intimidation practices against private or public sector workers. The government should intervene immediately to end the evasion of private sector companies from implementing the minimum wage decision instead of prosecuting workers for exercising their constitutional rights. In this context, the Samanoud Weaving and Textile workers case is not the first of its kind. In February, a number of workers at Ghazl al-Mahallah, a public mega spinning and weaving factory, were arrested and referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution on the same false charges after they staged a strike demanding the implementation of a minimum wage.