The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the prosecution and abuse of student leader Moaz Al-Sharqawi, which have continued for nearly seven years.

On June 24th, the Second Terrorism Circuit of the Criminal Court, headed by Judge Wagdi Abdel Moneim and convened at the Badr Courts Complex, issued sentences ranging from ten years to life imprisonment for 19 defendants, including EIPR client Moaz Al-Sharqawi.

This is the second ten-year sentence against Al-Sharqawi, who was also placed on the terrorist entities list and received a complementary sentence of police surveillance for five years after the completion of his prison sentence the decision issued  in Case No. 13330 of 2023 (Marg Felonies),  registered under No. 39 of 2023 (Supreme State Security Felonies). Meanwhile, his trial on similar charges in another case, No. 540 of 2023 (Supreme State Security), will begin on July 5th.

The verdict against Al-Sharqawi is not the first of its kind, and it seems it will not be the last. Over the past seven years, Al-Sharqawi has faced similar charges, such as joining and financing a terrorist group (the Muslim Brotherhood) in three different cases, without being confronted with objective incriminating evidence in any of them. He had previously been sentenced to ten years in Case No. 440 of 2018, which lacked minimum fair trial standards.

Al-Sharqawi was first arrested in 2018, interrogated and remained in pretrial detention until his release in 2020 before the Emergency State Security Court issued its unappealable verdict in 2021. He remained large at the time, as the verdict was not ratified.

On October 12th 2022, a security officer investigated the case in which Al-Sharqawi and others were involved. The prosecution authorised their arrest and search. However, Al-Sharqawi was arrested seven months after the investigation was conducted, specifically on May 11th 2023, when a security force went to his home in the Mokattam neighbourhood and arrested him after warning his neighbours not to intervene. Then, the security forces took him to an unknown destination, so his whereabouts remained unknown until he appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on June 3rd 2024.

There was a fundamental flaw in the law enforcement, doubting the seriousness of the measure, as after Al-Sharqawi was arrested for the second time in 2023 and illegally detained for more than twenty days, he was not interrogated in the case into which the investigation was conducted, and a verdict was issued yesterday. However, the State Security Prosecution interrogated him in another case, No. 540 of 2023, in which he remained in custody until his detention was stopped. Al-Sharqawi continues to be detained but in connection with the case in which a ruling was issued yesterday.

Al-Sharqawi and his lawyers were surprised by the issuance of an order referring him to trial concerning the case in which yesterday’s verdict was issued without being interrogated. The State Security Prosecution considered him a fugitive at the time, although he has been remanded in custody by the Ministry of Interior since May 2023. Despite the seriousness of the charges against him, the prosecution only copied his statements in Case No. 540 of 2023.

EIPR’s lawyer explained to the court before it issued the verdict that Al-Sharqawi had been subjected to complex violations following his arrest. According to the case papers, Al-Sharqawi was arrested on May 11th 2023. However, he appeared before the prosecution 22 days after he was completely isolated from the outside world, tortured, and denied access to his lawyer. The case file includes an indication that the officer in charge of the case requested permission to detain Al-Sharqawi for 14 days under Article 40 of the Anti-Terrorism Law, while the case papers did not contain any evidence that this permission was issued in the first place, which means that Al-Sharqawi’s detention and all subsequent procedures were invalid, which was supposed to prove his innocence.

In addition to the fact that Al-Sharqawi was illegally detained, denied access to a lawyer during his detention, and not held in a legal detention facility, the court panel did not pay attention to the EIPR lawyer’s argument that Article 40 was unconstitutional in the first place, which allowed individuals to be detained for up to 28 days without interrogation, which represents a flagrant violation of Article 54 of the constitution, which affirms that defendants must be interrogated within 24 hours of their arrest. The court did not also respond to the defence’s request to add the decision to detain Al-Sharqawi under Article 40 of the Anti-Terrorism Law to the papers of Case No. 540 to suspend the case to decide on the unconstitutionality of the article.

The case papers did not contain any incriminating evidence other than the National Security Sector’s investigation, which can only be considered the opinion of the officer who conducted it and cannot - according to the rulings of the Court of Cassation - be basic evidence or even presumption of proving the accusations. Moreover, the investigation did not indicate that Al-Sharqawi had committed any crime in the first place, nor did it clarify his connection to any of the other defendants. Meanwhile, the prosecution did not pay attention to the fact that the prosecution’s investigation was inadequate and violated the right of the defence to not interrogate Al-Sharqawi in the case in which yesterday’s verdict was issued.

What is surprising is that the court ignored the EIPR lawyer’s argument that Al-Sharqawi’s accusation of joining a terrorist group (the Muslim Brotherhood) had previously been decided on. The lawyer explained that Al-Sharqawi should not be tried on charges he had previously been convicted of. In 2021, the Emergency Court sentenced Al-Sharqawi to ten years in prison after convicting him of that charge. The court’s senior member was the head of the circuit that issued yesterday’s verdict, with the same penalty on the same charge, something which the court should take into account when it begins the subsequent trial in July to decide on the same accusation for the third time in Case No. 540 of 2023.

EIPR demands that the procedural errors and objective inaccuracies in the case file be corrected, which necessitates Al-Sharqawi's acquittal before the Court of Appeal. EIPR is concerned that all these illegal procedures occurred when Counselor Hamada El-Sawy, the head of the circuit, was serving as the Public Prosecutor.

EIPR stresses that Al-Sharqawi’s current legal position requires a quick and fair review. The court panel concerned with hearing Al-Sharqawi’s third case should acquit him, as the charges against him had previously been ruled on.