The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) demands the release of Ambassador Mohamed Rifa'a El-Tahtawy (75), who today, Wednesday 8 October, completes two years in detention. This marks the maximum limit for pre-trial detention in connection with Case No. 1097 of 2022, which is currently before the Criminal Court located at the Badr Security Complex. This is the fourth criminal case in which he has been listed as a defendant during his 12 years of detention. EIPR denounces the continued detention of El-Tahtawy,  in dire conditions within Sector 2 of Badr Prison 3. EIPR also denounces and calls for an end to the prolonged denial of his basic right to visitations or communication with any family members or even his legal defence team for a period exceeding seven years.

El-Tahtawy, a former diplomat and the Head of the Presidential Diwan (Cabinet) of the former President, was arrested on 3 July 2013 from the Republican Guard headquarters. Since then, he has been prosecuted afresh and added as a defendant in four different cases. In April 2015, he was sentenced to three years' imprisonment in Case No. 15530 of 2014, Maadi District Court for Felonies. He was then put on trial in connection with Case No. 56458 of 2013, Nasr City Felonies, commonly known as the "Hamas Espionage Case." In September 2019, the court acquitted him of the espionage charge but sentenced him to seven years in prison after convicting him of joining the Muslim Brotherhood, listed by then as a terrorist group. The third case, commonly known as the "Etihadeya Case" (No. 10970 of 2013), saw him excluded from the list of defendants after he had spent a period in pre-trial detention in connection with it, without any compensation for that period of unlawful detention.

El-Tahtawy completed the entirety of his sentences, totalling ten full years, in 2023. Instead of enforcing the law and releasing him, he was rotated onto a fourth case, No. 1097 of 2022. He was once again accused of joining a terrorist group and funding it from inside his detention facility, completely ignoring the fact that El-Tahtawy is absolutely prevented from communicating with the outside world and is denied any visit from his family or defence, which renders these accusations illogical. El-Tahtawy was referred to trial in connection with this case in 2024, and his trial commenced during the current year, while his prolonged pre-trial detention was still ongoing.

According to his family, El-Tahtawy has been prohibited from receiving visits for over seven years, with the last visit permitted to his family dating back to 14 March 2018. Moreover, all of the family's legal attempts to enable his right to visit have failed. The family submitted numerous complaints and petitions to the Attorney General to challenge the prolonged deprivation of his legal right to visitations but received no response. The family continued their attempts to appeal the (negative administrative) decision to deny him his legal right to communication. In January 2025, the Administrative Judiciary Court referred the appeal to the State Commissioners Authority, which issued an advisory opinion recommending the rejection of the lawsuit on the basis of the absence of an administrative decision.

This lawsuit was the first time that El-Tahtawy's family managed to obtain official confirmation of the existence of an administrative decision (No. 125 of 2025) prohibiting visits for three months for those detained in Sector 2 of Badr Correctional and Rehabilitation Centre 3. Since that date, the family has tried all judicial avenues to enable El-Tahtawy to see his family and lawyer, after more than seven years of his unjustified, forced isolation from the world.

Further confirming the escalation of violations against El-Tahtawy was a letter attributed to him, in which he referred to resorting to a hunger strike, along with 58 other detainees in Sector 2 of Badr Prison 3, in protest against their deteriorating living conditions and the denial of their fundamental rights. What is concerning in the letter, and confirms El-Tahtawy's complete isolation, was his request for the formation of a fact-finding committee to visit Sector 2 of Badr Prison 3, appealing for the committee members to include Ambassador Shokri Fouad and Mr. George Ishaq, both of whom had passed away years ago. This indicates that El-Tahtawy is not only barred from contact with his family, but he is also not allowed  access to the most basic news or updates on current events.

EIPR stresses that the release of El-Tahtawy now is vital , and is the only decision that can be consistent with the bare minimum of Egyptian legislation and binding international laws. His continued detention on the pretext of being tried for crimes allegedly committed while he was in the custody of the Ministry of Interior, and later while incarcerated in complete isolation from the outside world, is implausible and must not stand.  EIPR affirms that the continued detention of El-Tahtawy while being denied his minimum rights can only be considered a crime of exposing an elderly person to physical danger, in accordance with the text of Article 24 of the Law on the Care of the Rights of the Elderly (Law No. 19 of 2024).