The Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) ordered the release of five detainees held in connection with Case No. 6954/2025 over the past two days, four of whom are represented by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) as part of their defense team.

EIPR documented the arrest of 20 individuals in a security campaign targeting people based on religion or belief, which began in mid-September and continued for weeks. The target of the crackdown were individuals holding religious views contrary to the mainstream, including non-religious atheists. The SSSP charged them with joining a group founded in violation of the provisions of the Constitution and the law and publicly assaulting one of the religions whose rituals are performed openly.

The releases came a few days after the president met with a group of Awqaf (Ministry of Endowment) preachers, during which he advised them to be "guardians of freedom [and] choice," emphasizing to them that "no one is a guardian over anyone else." Despite the President's statements and these releases, the prosecution added another detained person to the same case, who now faces the same charges alongside fifteen other individuals who continue to be remanded in detention.

EIPR condemned the arrest campaign, which constitutes a flagrant violation of constitutional obligations to guarantee and protect the freedoms of religion, belief, opinion, and expression, which the government pledged to respect in the National Human Rights Strategy and repeatedly affirmed in its reports submitted to the United Nations.

These arrests come against the backdrop of an escalating security crackdown and prosecution campaign targeting adherents of religions and beliefs not recognized in Egyptian law, or those whose opinions contradict or simply criticize those adopted by official religious institutions. The number of individuals arrested and charged with offenses related to their religion or belief since the beginning of 2025 has reached 46, distributed across six different criminal cases. Some of the arrested individuals were subjected to enforced disappearance for several days before their appearance before the SSSP, which took charge of the investigation.

EIPR warns of a marked increase in hostility towards freedom of opinion and expression, which is closely linked to the exercise of the right to freedom of belief. This right is guaranteed to all citizens under Article 64 of the Constitution, which affirms that "freedom of belief is absolute." EIPR emphasizes the necessity of adhering to Article 18 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which is part of the Egyptian legislative system by virtue of the Constitution. The UN Human Rights Committee, in its official General Comment on Article 18, stressed that the article "protects theistic, non-theistic and atheistic beliefs, as well as the right not to profess any religion or belief." Furthermore, the second paragraph of the Article prohibits coercion that would impair the right to have a religion or belief. The UN Committee overseeing the implementation of the Covenant interprets "coercion" to include threatening to use physical force or criminal sanctions to "compel believers or non-believers to adhere to their religious beliefs and congregations, to recant their religion or convert."

EIPR demands the release of all detainees in cases related to freedom of religion or belief and calls upon the security agencies to stop prosecuting citizens for expressing their opinions and to respect their constitutionally and legally guaranteed rights.