In the sixteenth monthly issue of “Deleted Lines,” Zawia3 continues to trace a human rights landscape in which security restrictions intersect with administrative and technological tools, both within and beyond national borders. From Journalists Syndicate seats left empty by members behind bars to courtrooms hearing cases connected to union activity and wage demands, from digital censorship and surveillance technologies to reports documenting twelve years of shrinking civic space and patterns of transnational repression, this issue tracks developments that extend beyond individual incidents to reveal expanding restrictions on public life. As detention and asylum crises intensify, women renew their struggles against paternalistic control, and access to treatment and safe housing faces growing challenges, fundamental rights remain under sustained pressure, raising questions of accountability and transparency across several areas.
Rights and Freedoms
“His Seat Is Empty”: A Syndicate Campaign to Free Detained Journalists
The Freedoms Committee of the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate launched a campaign under the slogan “His Seat Is Empty… Bring Him Back to His Loved Ones,” seeking the release of journalists held in pretrial detention. Announced recently and continuing through the end of Ramadan, the campaign features profiles, photographs and messages from detainees’ families, showing the social and human consequences of prolonged imprisonment: children growing up without their fathers and wives living with the pain of their absence.
Syndicate head Khaled El-Balshy submitted two requests to the Public Prosecutor calling for the release of 17 journalists in pretrial detention, including Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan, known as “Mohamed Oxygen,” and Safaa Mohamed Hassan El-Korbeigy. He also requested a review of the circumstances of fifteen other journalists whose pretrial detention had exceeded two years, stressing that their release had become mandatory under Article 54 of the Constitution and Article 204 of the Criminal Procedure Code after the legal limit for arrest and detention had been exceeded.
According to the syndicate, these colleagues pose neither a flight risk nor a threat to investigations. Renewing their detention after the statutory period has expired requires the authorities to undertake an immediate legal and judicial review.
Eleven Journalists Referred to Trial over the “Wages Protest”
On 22 February 2026, Qasr El-Nil Misdemeanour Court postponed the first trial hearing for nine Al-Bawaba News journalists and Journalists Syndicate board members Eman Auf and Mahmoud Kamel until 22 March, at their defence lawyers’ request to examine the case file.
The journalists and board members were referred to trial in Case No. 1084 of 2026 on charges of insulting and defaming Al-Bawaba News board chair Abdel Rahim Ali and editor-in-chief Dalia Abdel Rahim Ali. The charges followed their participation in a peaceful protest on the syndicate’s steps demanding payment of overdue salaries and implementation of the minimum wage under applicable laws and decisions.
In a parallel development, Mahmoud El-Batakoushy, one of the journalists named in the case, was also referred to the Economic Court on charges of insult and defamation through an online page containing demands for implementation of the minimum wage. Defence representatives criticised the referral, saying the content cited contained no clear insulting or defamatory language.
In a joint statement, twenty human rights organisations and a political party condemned the prosecutions as a “dangerous precedent” that could turn a professional dispute over financial entitlements into a criminal case intended to intimidate and isolate journalists through legal proceedings. They demanded an end to all prosecutions related to peaceful protest, payment of outstanding entitlements and application of the minimum wage without discrimination.
The referral followed a collective sit-in by Al-Bawaba News journalists that lasted around 56 days from November 2025, protesting unpaid salaries and failure to implement the minimum wage. The sit-in was forcibly dispersed, and the protest moved to the Journalists Syndicate headquarters.
Questioned over the “Archive of Oppression,” Aida Seif El-Dawla Released on EGP 100,000 Bail
Physician and human rights defender Aida Seif El-Dawla, director of El Nadeem Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence, was questioned by the Supreme State Security Prosecution over the centre’s annual report, “Archive of Oppression,” documenting torture and violations in detention facilities during 2025.
The questioning lasted several hours and focused on the report’s content, methodology and sources, amid allegations of publishing news or information that could harm public security—a formulation repeatedly used in cases related to human rights documentation. The prosecution ordered her release on EGP 100,000 bail while investigations continued.
The high bail prompted human rights criticism that it imposed a substantial financial burden, particularly in cases involving freedom of expression or human rights work. In such cases, bail ceases to function merely as a guarantee of appearance and effectively becomes an instrument of financial pressure.
The incident forms part of a broader pattern over the past two years of release orders in political and human rights cases carrying high bail, sometimes ranging from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of Egyptian pounds. Human rights defenders see this as a shift in the handling of such cases, with prolonged detention sometimes replaced by large bail amounts that burden defendants and their families economically.
Cassation Appeal for Economist Abdel Khalek Farouk
On Tuesday, 17 February 2026, human rights lawyer Khaled Ali and labour leader Kamal Abu Eita, alongside the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, filed a Court of Cassation appeal in Case No. 4027 of 2025, El-Shorouk Misdemeanours, concerning politician and economist Dr Abdel Khalek Farouk, after his five-year prison sentence was upheld.
On 4 October 2025, El-Shorouk Misdemeanour Court sentenced Farouk to five years in prison for “publishing false news and information liable to disturb public peace and harm the national interest,” relying on articles and posts discussing public economic policies. On 25 December 2025, the appellate misdemeanour court upheld the sentence and rejected the defence appeal.
The cassation appeal is the final judicial avenue for challenging the sentence. The applicants seek its annulment and a retrial, citing arguments related to trial procedures and defence guarantees.
Farouk was arrested at home on 20 October 2024 and questioned in a Supreme State Security case. Charges included broadcasting false news and information after he published more than forty articles and posts on economic policy and management of public resources.
Abdel Khalek Farouk is an economic researcher and writer known for analyses of political economy, social justice, public debt and privatisation, with books and studies examining the structure of Egypt’s economy. He was previously detained in October 2018 over critical writings and later released, making his current case part of a series of prosecutions connected to his expression of views on public economic affairs.
خالد علي: ما بعد يناير أسوأ سياسيًا واقتصاديًا من عهد مبارك (حوار)
Between Protection and Intrusion: How Digital Surveillance Became a Sovereignty Dilemma
Last December, Egypt’s National Telecommunications Regulatory Authority warned of advanced cyberattacks targeting smartphones through zero-day vulnerabilities and malicious links. The warning coincided with reports on commercial spyware such as Predator, associated with the Intellexa alliance.
The paradox is that human rights and technical reports had previously documented the use of this software, or equivalents, in Egypt to target activists, journalists and opponents, as part of a wider pattern of sophisticated digital surveillance. International leaks and investigations revealed that some developers have technical access to their customers’ systems, raising concerns that extend beyond privacy violations to broader risks to national sovereignty.
Since 2013, Egyptian authorities have expanded their surveillance infrastructure by purchasing interception technologies, deep packet inspection (DPI) tools and device intrusion systems from American, European and Israeli companies, alongside local projects to monitor content and analyse public opinion trends.
Independent reports indicate that these tools have been used to block hundreds of websites, analyse data traffic and target individuals with advanced spyware. Legal amendments have meanwhile permitted communications surveillance with judicial authorisation, while the legislative framework governing the relationship between the state and technology companies remains contested because of inadequate transparency and independent oversight.
Surveillance contracts often pass through general budget lines such as “infrastructure development” and “cybersecurity,” with estimates suggesting millions of dollars in expenditure. The danger extends beyond cost and rights to national security itself: these programs rely on undisclosed vulnerabilities and may be tied to foreign suppliers, creating structural weaknesses within networks. A fundamental paradox emerges: tools justified as protective measures may, without transparency and oversight, become potential gateways for intrusion that threaten the sovereignty of digital space.
حين يحذرك من اشتراه: الاتصالات تنبه من برمجيات إسرائيلية دفعت مصر ملايين الدولارات لاستخدامها
A Year after Blocking: Zawia3 and International Organisations Demand Answers from AppLogic on Its Technology in Egypt
Zawia3, together with international media organisations and civil society groups, submitted a formal demand to AppLogic Networks for public, documented disclosure of its compliance with commitments to withdraw from Egypt. Independent media websites, including Zawia3, remain blocked despite the company’s announcement that it would end operations in several countries with high human rights risks by 31 December 2025.
The joint letter, addressed to CEO Mark Driedger and head of ethics and compliance Carol Tate, expressed grave concern over what signatories described as the company’s failure to provide full transparency about its withdrawal from Egypt or take concrete steps to remedy harm to media organisations whose access to audiences was restricted using its technology, through website blocking and interference with data traffic.
The action follows continued targeting of Zawia3. Its website was blocked inside Egypt in February 2025, followed by an alternative domain created to overcome technical restrictions and maintain access to its journalism. Zawia3 thus joins hundreds of blocked news and media websites; at least 630 websites are estimated to be blocked in the country.
AppLogic Networks announced its commitment to withdraw from Egypt and several other non-democratic regimes as part of reforms that helped secure its removal from the US Department of Commerce Entity List, responding to concerns that its technology, particularly deep packet inspection, facilitated digital violations including website blocking and user tracking.
Technical research by independent civil society organisations, including Egypt’s Masaar, in collaboration with Citizen Lab, has linked the company’s technology over the years to extensive network interference and digital censorship targeting more than one hundred news websites and independent media platforms critical of the Egyptian authorities.
Despite the announced withdrawal, Egyptian authorities continue to block independent media, including Zawia3. The signatories therefore asked whether the company’s technology remains in use, given the absence of public information on equipment and technical infrastructure previously supplied to the Egyptian market.
The letter also noted that promises of regular civil society consultation, including groups recommended by the US State Department, had not produced meaningful dialogue with affected media organisations, particularly Zawia3. Access Now’s efforts to facilitate direct communication with Egyptian civil society groups and independent media were postponed for several months before the company cancelled at the last minute, citing staff safety concerns without offering alternatives.
The letter questioned AppLogic Networks’ pledge to donate 1% of future profits to organisations working on internet freedom and remedies for digital violations. No disclosures or evidence had been published showing support reaching affected independent media, including Zawia3 and Egypt’s Al Manassa.
The signatories stressed that transparency and accountability require verifiable action beyond press releases. They requested public disclosure by 26 February 2026, including documented evidence of complete withdrawal from Egypt, details of remaining equipment or contractual obligations, plans to engage affected journalists and media organisations, and clarification of proposed remedies, including financial donations.
The letter warned that failure to take these steps could be understood as an attempt to improve the company’s public image without substantive change, undermining its stated commitments to digital rights and freedom of expression.
AppLogic Networks, formerly Sandvine, is a major global developer of internet traffic management and analysis technologies, especially deep packet inspection systems that allow network operators to monitor, analyse and control data passing through digital infrastructure. Originally intended for network management, service quality and cybersecurity, these technologies have been documented by international technical and human rights reports as tools for restricting internet access, blocking websites and tracking users in several countries, including independent media and critical journalism. In 2024, following its inclusion on the US Department of Commerce Entity List over censorship concerns, the company announced reforms including withdrawal from several high-risk human rights environments, including Egypt, by the end of 2025.
On 20 February 2025, Zawia3 announced that its website had been blocked in Egypt after repeated access difficulties across several internet providers. Subsequent technical investigations confirmed blocking through “reset attacks,” which terminate connections when a user attempts to access the website rather than directly shutting it down, making access intermittent and unstable.
According to Zawia3’s statement at the time, blocking effectively began on 15 February 2025, as users encountered increasing difficulties on networks including Vodafone before restrictions extended to other providers with varying effectiveness.
Minority and Refugee Rights
The “15 May Church Wall” Trial
Helwan Prosecution referred eighteen defendants to trial in Case No. 613 of 2026 following protests against demolition of a wall around land allocated for a church in the Zohour area of 15 May City. The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for an amicable settlement that addresses local Christians’ needs and guarantees their right to worship.
The case began on 3 February, when security forces arrested 58 people, including women and children, during implementation of Demolition Order No. 480 of 2025, issued by the 15 May City Authority on grounds that the wall encroached on areas surrounding the allocated land. Thirty-nine people were released the same day without reports being filed against them. Eighteen defendants were referred to the prosecution alongside church priest Father Athanasius Rizk, who was released early on 4 February after giving his testimony.
Deaths in Detention and the Refugee Education Crisis
Refugees Platform reported the deaths of Sudanese teenager Al-Nazer Al-Sadek at Badr Police Centre and asylum seeker Mubarak Qamar El-Din at El-Shorouk Police Station during arbitrary detention.
Zawia3 also obtained testimonies from relatives of African students studying in Egypt who faced security harassment, stops and detention in police stations because their educational residence permits had not been renewed. A Guinean activist reported the detention in February of three Guinean students: Mostafa Camara, Aboubakar Sawaneh and Ibrahim Diallo.
Abu Bakr Sissoko, head of the Gambian Students Union in Egypt, described a wide-ranging campaign of stops targeting migrants and foreigners of various African nationalities. Some holders of valid residence permits were detained pending document checks, including people from Guinea, Nigeria, Benin and Togo, as well as two young women of European nationalities.
He said the students were held at El-Amiriya Police Station before referral to El-Amiriya District Prosecution in Cairo. He urged community members to carry passports and residence permits at all times and produce official documents on request to avoid detention.
Separately, thousands of Yemeni students face losing an academic year because of complicated residence procedures.
Recommended reading: Syrian Refugees in Egypt: Deportation and Detention without Warning
Economic and Social Rights
Rights Monitoring: 56 Private Property Expropriation Decisions in 2025, Covering 492 Feddans
Diwan Al-Omran published a report titled “In the Name of Public Benefit: 492 Feddans of Private Property under State Decisions,” offering quantitative and analytical monitoring of expropriation decisions issued in 2025 based on publications in the Official Gazette and Al-Waqa’i Al-Misriyya.
The report recorded 56 decisions expropriating privately owned land and property, covering approximately 2.5 million square metres, or around 492 feddans. It focuses on privately held areas, excluding state property and land belonging to government bodies, to assess the impact of public-benefit decisions on individuals.
Sectoral analysis showed road and bridge projects accounted for the largest share of expropriated land, around 51.5%, followed by urban public services, urban development and housing. Other sectors included transport, sanitation, educational buildings, hospitals and public car parks.
Geographically, Alexandria had the largest expropriated area, followed by Cairo, Dakahlia, Qalyubia and Giza. Other governorates recorded smaller areas or lacked complete detailed data. The final quarter of 2025 saw the highest pace of expropriation in both the number of decisions and affected area.
Expropriation for public benefit is governed by Law No. 10 of 1990 and its amendments, allowing competent authorities to acquire property needed for projects classified as serving the public benefit in exchange for compensation determined through legal procedures. Diwan Al-Omran emphasised that its methodology relied exclusively on published official data, excluding government land, without assessing project feasibility or compensation mechanisms.
The report places these figures within the broader impact of urban policy and infrastructure projects on private property. Property rights form part of the rights to housing and residential stability, amid a continued notable pace of expropriation decisions during the monitored year.
Education and Health Spending between Constitutional Commitments and Fiscal Reality
International and local human rights reports in early 2026 renewed questions about Egypt’s public spending on education and healthcare and its consistency with constitutional and international obligations. In a January 2026 report, Human Rights Watch noted that declining purchasing power of social budgets, amid inflation and rising public debt, affects the quality of basic services, including education and health, even when nominal spending increases are announced.
A January 2026 World Bank report on Egypt’s economic outlook also examined the budget structure, highlighting pressures from rising debt service on social spending and the resulting challenges in financing essential sectors. Although constitutional provisions establish minimum spending as a share of gross national product for education and health, organisations including the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms stress that assessing compliance must examine resource allocation efficiency and actual service improvements as well as percentages.
UNICEF’s 2025 report on children in Egypt identified continuing challenges related to crowded classrooms, geographical disparities in education quality and indirect costs borne by families. Central Agency for Public Mobilization and Statistics reports on enrolment and dropout rates likewise reflect persistent gaps in some rural and poor areas.
In healthcare, the World Health Organization’s 2025 regional report on financing in Middle Eastern countries highlighted high out-of-pocket spending as an indicator of weak financial protection. This intersects with earlier Amnesty International warnings about economic policies’ effects on access to healthcare for the most vulnerable. Official Ministry of Finance data show debt service continuing to absorb a substantial share of public expenditure, limiting fiscal space for expanding social spending.
These reports agree that constitutional recognition or inclusion in the budget alone does not fulfil the rights to education and health. They require transparent data, independent spending oversight and guarantees that fiscal pressure will neither reduce service quality nor transfer costs to citizens. Amid continuing economic reforms and international obligations, financing social rights remains a decisive measure of the priority given to social justice in public policy.
The Right to Treatment: A Medical Placement Crisis and Hope for a Tissue Bank
MP Freddy El-Bayady criticised the Health Ministry for reducing placement rates for medical profession graduates from the class of 2023, describing the decision as lacking transparency and threatening healthcare quality.
MP Dr Doha Assi submitted a parliamentary briefing request to the Prime Minister and Health Minister on difficulties facing children with disabilities, particularly those with hearing impairments and cochlear implants. These children depend entirely on their implant devices to hear and communicate, while families face high spare-part costs without government support.
MP Amira Saber proposed a national tissue bank to provide skin for patients with severe burns and reduce import costs. Despite Organ Transplant Law No. 5 of 2010 and its amendments, and the constitutional description of donation as a “gift of life,” the absence of implementation mechanisms and tissue banks has obstructed its application.
Saber told Zawia3 that she is studying the law’s legislative impact and identifying changes needed to documentation mechanisms and donation procedures. She said the absence of a unified national donor register is a major obstacle to implementing donors’ wishes after death or connecting them with hospitals. Human rights lawyer Malek Adly agreed, telling Zawia3 that the system lacks unified donor records and clear donation management mechanisms, reflecting a gap between law and implementation.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights considered the proposal necessary to close a chronic gap affecting burn and disfigurement patients through limited availability and high costs. It stressed that the absence of an organised bank deepens inequality in the right to treatment.
إنشاء بنك للأنسجة البشرية والتبرع بالجلد: لماذا تستورد مصر ما يمكن أن يهبه مواطنوها؟
Natural Gas between Expansion and Neglect: How the “Silent Killer” Became a Household Threat
A Zawia3 investigation revealed a striking contradiction between the rapid expansion of household natural gas connections since 2014, promoted as a strategic project to reduce reliance on bottled gas, and increasing gas leak incidents inside residential units.
By 2025, around 15.5 million homes had been connected, including 572,000 during that year. Yet expansion was not accompanied by effective inspection and maintenance, leading to repeated incidents involving the “silent killer,” so called because of its unseen risks, without accurate official statistics on the problem’s scale.
The investigation documented 113 leaks between January 2024 and January 2026, resulting in 349 victims: 116 deaths and 233 injuries. Incidents rose markedly in 2025 compared with 2024. Giza, Cairo and Beni Suef recorded the most cases, with suffocation accounting for the largest share of harm.
A survey of 110 citizens from fifteen governorates found that most had received no periodic maintenance since signing their contracts, contradicting government claims about safety standards and exposing a gap between announced policies and practice.
The investigation identified additional shortcomings, including sometimes slow responses and informal practices by workers carrying out installation or maintenance outside approved channels, increasing risks.
MPs, legal experts and safety specialists said liability may be civil or criminal depending on the case, and that the absence of routine maintenance and oversight breaches legal obligations and undermines the right to safe housing.
الغاز الطبيعي في ملايين المنازل: إنجاز يوصل الخدمة وإخفاق يحصد الأرواح
Gender Issues
A Major International Report on the Implementation Gap in Women’s Economic Rights
The World Bank published a global report on the gap between gender equality legislation and its implementation. It found that many countries, including in the Middle East and North Africa, have legal frameworks recognising women’s economic rights but lack effective mechanisms to make them a reality. Wide gaps persist in labour market participation, access to social protection and care services. The challenge extends beyond passing laws to building institutions that enable women to access economic opportunities, finance and protection from discrimination. This is particularly significant in Egypt, where women’s economic participation remains low relative to men, amid interacting social, legislative and market factors.
“Single Women Not Allowed”: Challenging Hotel Paternalism
Feminist organisations launched the campaign “Single Women Not Allowed,” in solidarity with journalist Alaa Saad, whose hotel booking in Port Said was rejected on the grounds that women staying alone were “prohibited.” Their statement described the practice as violating the Constitution—Articles 45 and 53—and the Tourist Establishments Law, imposing legal paternalism that reproduces the treatment of women as minors.
The Feminisation of Poverty and Unpaid Work
A research paper titled “Unpaid Work” revealed a sharp gap: women’s economic participation is only 17.5%, while they undertake the largest share of domestic and care work.
Feminist organisations also called for an anti-discrimination commission, an unfulfilled constitutional requirement, to confront escalating violence and hate speech against women.
Recommended reading: From the Field to the Margins: How Egypt’s Agricultural Policies Feminise Poverty
