The Public Prosecution announced in a statement issued on 6 October a list of 38 defendants in seven Supreme State Security investigations to be released on bail, some of whom are EIPR clients.

These release decisions follow a series of similar decisions issued by the Public Prosecution during a short period of time, as a number of similar decisions were issued both before and after the Prosecution published the aforementioned statement. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) learned of the release of a number of its clients who were detained in connection with various cases such as Case No. 662/2020, commonly known as the "Borj Meghizel Fishermen case," Case No. 3434/2024, commonly known as the "Dignity Revolution case," alongside a number of cases collectively referred to  as the "Palestine solidarity cases."

Among those released is EIPR client Mohamed Shaalan Antar (25), who was charged in connection with Case No. 662/2020 and spent more than four years in pre-trial detention, which is double the legal maximum limit. Antar was arrested in January 2021 at Cairo Airport upon his return from Italy. He was accused of committing terrorism-related crimes in Libya, even though he had never set foot on Libyan territory and had been residing legally in Italy for several years before the case emerged, a fact for which EIPR lawyers provided documentary evidence. The case, which has been open for more than five years, included 44 defendants, most of whom are fishermen from the village of Borj Meghizel and neighbouring villages in Kafr El Sheikh Governorate. One of them died during his pre-trial detention, while most of the others remained unlawfully detained despite exceeding the legal maximum limit. Antar was the only remaining defendant in custody, and following his release, the logical next step for the case, which has been open for years without any genuine or meaningful presentation of evidence , is the closure of the case and  dropping all charges against all defendants connected to it.

The prosecution’s release decisions also included a number of defendants in connection with Case No. 3434/2024, including one defendant (57) who was arrested in July 2024 from his workplace in Alexandria. The case also included a housewife whose arrest cost her nearly a year and a half of pre-trial detention, depriving her of the care of her two minor children. Although the Prosecution issued a decision for her release on 9 October, the Ministry of Interior has not enforced the decision up to the moment this statement was published, and her two children have been unable to communicate with her and have not been able to get any reassurances about her condition for four days.

The case known as the "Dignity Revolution" case emerged in 2024, and the number of defendants connected to it exceeded 120. The Prosecution accused them of joining a terrorist group, using social media sites to promote its goals, spreading and broadcasting false news and statements domestically and abroad, and inciting a terrorist crime. This followed posts that appeared on social media networks calling for demonstrations on Friday, 12 July 2024, under the slogan "Dignity Revolution," although no meaningful response to these calls for protest was observed anywhere in Egypt. The Prosecution did not confront the defendants with any evidence or exhibits other than photos taken from their social media accounts, which included posts where they had criticised price increases and the continuous power cuts at that time - without necessarily having connection with the abovementioned call for protest.

Recently, the Prosecution decided to release around twenty defendants split between Case No. 2468/2023 and Case No. 2635/2023, Supreme State Security Investigations (docket). These cases emerged in October 2023 immediately following the start of the Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip, prosecuting a number of Egyptian citizens who were demonstrating to express their solidarity with the Palestinian cause.

A police officer accused in connection with Case No. 717/2024, Supreme State Security investigations docket, was released after more than a year and a half of pre-trial detention, having been arrested for climbing an advertising billboard to raise the flag of Palestine. However, there are still dozens of citizens detained against the backdrop of supporting Palestine, including children, and others arrested since the beginning of the war in October 2023, who are close to completing the legal maximum limit for pretrial detention -  concurrently with the announcement of a ceasefire in Gaza.

While EIPR considers the recent decisions a positive step that towards halting injustice and serious legal violations against a list of defendants who have mostly exceeded the maximum limit for pre-trial detention, or whose detention continued without real legal justification; EIPR stresses that it is high time the prosecution issues a larger number of similar release decisions, especially in investigations that have been open for years, such as Case No. 65/2021. A decision was issued to release two of the detainees connected to it on 6 October. This leaves Nermin Hussein as the only defendant unlawfully detained in connection with the case, which has been open for more than four years without any genuine evidence emerging to support the accusations against any of the defendants connected to it.

It should be noted that all the above mentioned releases were the result of decisions by the Public Prosecutor, while no release decisions have been authorised for a very long period of time during actual detention hearings either before the prosecution or the reviewing Judicial Panel of the Criminal Court (held in the deliberation chambers). Effectively this meant that detention renewal hearings for defendants in State Security cases have turned into a routine procedure for extending detention.

The latest statement from the Public Prosecution indicated that the release decisions came "in light of the Public Prosecution's commitment to upholding justice, which is not limited to holding perpetrators of crimes accountable but extends to include the rehabilitation and reintegration of those released into society, thereby cementing the state's mission  of upholding the values of rights and freedoms." This sends a confusing message about the Prosecution's perception of its mandate and of defendants in cases that are still being investigated. The Prosecution, in the statement, seemingly sees itself not as an accusing or even investigating authority (ie an adversary), but as a judicial arbiter in a process that does not presume the principle of innocence towards the accused.

EIPR demands that the Public Prosecution close the Borj Meghizel Fishermen case, release the remaining defendants in the Dignity Revolution case and the Palestine Solidarity cases, and drop all charges contained within them. It calls on the SSSP to work in accordance with the directives of the Attorney General, Counselor Mohamed Shawki, to “review the status of all detainees”, which necessitates the issuance of similar decisions for larger groups of pre-trial detainees on a regular basis.

EIPR reiterates its demand for a serious reconsideration of the prolonged pre-trial detention in State Security cases issue, which would allow for the release of larger numbers of detainees and the closure of cases that have been open for years without any meaningful evidence emerging to prove the charges contained within them or move the investigation forward.