As the Gaza ceasefire comes into effect today, 19 January 2025, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) renews its call for all the relevant authorities, primarily the Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawky, to release all those held in pretrial detention for peacefully expressing their support for Palestine. Some of those had been detained for more than 15 months, from the very beginning of the war and until the time of writing this press release.  Since the beginning of the Gaza war in October last year, EIPR has documented the detention of around 129 people, including two minors, in connection with ten different cases.

When the Gaza war started, President Sisi said that "millions of Egyptians are ready to demonstrate to express their rejection of the displacement of Palestinians from Gaza". However, dozens of demonstrators were arrested in Cairo and Alexandria on 20 October 2023, some of whom had participated in the spontaneous demonstrations that came out in response to and immediately President Sisi’s call, while others were merely accidentally present in the vicinity of the demonstrations. The number of those arrested in this incident came to 42. They were investigated in connection with either Case No. 2468 of 2023 or Case No. 2469 of 2023 (Supreme State Security Investigations), on charges of committing violations of the Anti-Terrorism Law No. 94 of 2015.

According to a number of families of the detainees, Case No. 2468 of 2023 includes at least 41 people who are still in remand detention since October 2023, including the 22-year-old Abdel Samad Rabie who, according to his brother, responded to the president's call to support the Palestinian cause. Rabie graduated from the Arab Open University under a scholarship from the Children's Cancer Hospital 57357, where he spent most of his childhood for leukemia treatment. According to official statements from the hospital, Rabie is still ill and needs regular follow-up and treatment. Before his arrest, he underwent regular follow-ups at the heart clinic affiliated with Hospital 57357 after receiving chemotherapy, as he suffers from a weak heart muscle, which requires regular cardiovascular follow-up once every six months.

Among those detained is former army captain Karim Orabi (31), who had to quit the military service after he was injured three times in Sinai. The case also includes a number of students such as Ali Adel, a student of Al-Azhar University who finished his university studies in prison despite suffering optic neuropathy, and university student Amr Reda (21) who, according to his family, was a high-performing student during his three years of study at the Faculty of Commerce before his arrest.

The case also includes a number of husbands, fathers, and sons, who are the sole breadwinners for their families, such as Ahmed Sayed Amin Abdo, the sole breadwinner for his wife and four children, Mohamed Karim Salama (a worker, 19 years old), and lawyer Ahmed Abu Zeid, a father of two children. It also includes lawyer Mahmoud Nasser Al-Sayed Daoud, whose elderly mother has to travel from her home in Sohag governorate, in the south of Egypt to visit him once a month at the 10th of Ramadan prison in Sharqiya governorate, east of Cairo. Daoud is unable to care for his two children, one of whom was born during his detention. The families of Ahmed El-Sayed Abdel Moneim (34 years old) and Zine El-Abidine Thabet (25 years old) from Alexandria are also suffering due to their detention from their home city in connection with Case No. 2469 of 2023, having lost the ability to earn a living for than 15 months.

On 27 October 2023, another pro-Palestinian demonstration was held near Al-Azhar Mosque in Cairo, where 11 people were arrested. The Supreme State Security Prosecution remanded those arrested and investigated them in the Case No. 2635 of 2023. Among them were two brothers, Hassan Shawky Abdo (carpenter, 50 years old) and Mahmoud Shawky Abdo (carpenter, 41 years old), who were arrested from Al-Ataba district. Each of them is a father of three children, and their elderly mother has not been able to visit them at the 10th of Ramadan prison 5 in Sharqiya. The detainees also included two students, Mohammed Abdul Sattar Abdul Wahab (23) and Mahmoud Abdullah (22).

The two minors in detention (17 years old each) have been detained at Dar al-Salam police station since they were arrested along with four other adults in March 2024. They were all detained in connection with Case No. 952 of 2024, after writing pro-Gaza slogans on the Dar al-Salam bridge. Both minors have difficulty resuming their studies normally, and they have been denied family visits throughout the past ten months.

Case No. 1644 of 2024 includes six young men from Alexandria who were arrested in late April 2024. They have since been detained at the 10th of Ramadan prison, on account of raising a banner demanding the opening of the Rafah border crossing and the release of those who had previously been arrested for expressing their support for Palestine. Among those arrested were trade unionist Shadi Mohamed and Omar al-Ansari, 23, who graduated from the Arab Academy for Science and Technology before his arrest.

EIPR joins the call by the families of those held in pretrial detention for the authorities to release dozens of pro-Palestine detainees, in line with the president's recent statement in which he said that Egypt "defends and stands with the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people", which is the very same thing those in detention tried to do. They tried to defend the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people by voicing their solidarity, either through demonstrating, raising banners, writing slogans on the street or on social media, or even through fundraising for humanitarian relief. EIPR stresses that pretrial detention is strictly a precautionary measure that, according to Article 134 of the Criminal Procedures Law, must only be resorted to where there is a fear of the accused fleeing or absconding; or a fear that the integrity of the investigation will be compromised, or if it is necessary to prevent grossly compromising security and public order. This criminal procedure code provision does not apply to any of the aforementioned defendants or any of the others, including children and students, and others with known jobs and specified places of residence, and who have families that need their care.