Prosecuting the defenders of prisoners of conscience
Deleted Lines | Issue 19 | May 2026
Prosecuting the defenders of prisoners of conscience
The month of May witnessed a marked escalation in the pace of security and judicial prosecutions linked to freedom of opinion and expression, with the continued use of pretrial detention and trials of a political nature against journalists, lawyers, rights defenders and activists, in parallel with the widening of rights criticism of prison conditions, refugee files, and labour and social rights, in addition to renewed controversy over a number of draft laws and legislative amendments.
In this context, a new security crackdown targeted three members of the Committee for the Defence of Prisoners of Conscience, namely lawyers Wafaa El-Masry, Mohamed Abu El-Diyar, and Hanan El-Tantawy, after they appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution pending Case No. 4502 of 2026 Supreme State Security.
The prosecution charged the two lawyers Wafaa El-Masry and Hanan El-Tantawy with “spreading false news”, before it decided to release them on bail of EGP 50,000 each, while “Abu El-Diyar” faced charges of joining a group founded in violation of the law, spreading false news, and using an account on social media to promote it, and it decided to detain him for 15 days pending investigations.
The arrest of the committee members came in the context of ongoing prosecutions that have targeted the founders and members of the committee since its founding in November of last year, 2025, the most prominent of which was the referral of poet and political activist Ahmed Douma to trial over his demand to improve the conditions of detainees inside prisons, as the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court decided, on the thirteenth of May, to reserve the case for judgment at the session of the third of June, with his pretrial detention continuing.
During the session Douma demanded that the prosecution move to his place of detention to verify the facts he had published about the conditions of (Badr Prison 1), and they are the two former members of the House of Representatives, lawyer Ziad El-Elaimy, who had previously been detained in the same prison, and politician Ahmed Tantawi, who had previously been detained in (Tenth of Ramadan 4), to confirm the validity of Douma’s complaints. Iman Ouf, a member of the Journalists Syndicate’s council, also attended to give her testimony, based on her professional experience, to clarify the difference between an opinion article and a news item, while the court rejected the defence’s requests to hear defence witnesses or to inspect the prisons.
For his part, human rights lawyer Haitham Mohamedein considers that the recent security prosecutions against a number of defenders of prisoners of conscience reflect the continuation of what he describes as the “vicious circle” of arrests and releases and then re-arrest again, noting that some of those targeted, among them Mohamed Abu El-Diyar, have been arrested more than once, which confirms that security policy has not witnessed a real change, and that release decisions sometimes come within the framework of easing tension before returning to re-detention, as he describes it.
He tells “Zawia3”: “The current scene reveals an insistence on the absence of an open political climate. The public sphere in Egypt does not allow for the existence of different opinions and political forces, and this is an unhealthy situation for any society, because the absence of popular oversight and an active civil society, including parties, trade unions, and student and workers’ unions, leads to the absence of societal accountability of the authorities, which is reflected in the economic and political conditions from which citizens suffer.”
Mohamedein links the recent campaign to the re-arrest of some former prisoners of conscience, considering that the matter comes in the same context, denouncing the targeting of people who demand the release of detainees and are not participants in electoral events or public protests, affirming that those arrested were practising peaceful and legitimate activity inside party headquarters to demand the release of prisoners of conscience.
1. Human rights defenders and press freedom
Nael Hassan and Omar Salah Marei
The Egyptian authorities also continued to prosecute a number of human rights defenders and activists, as rights activist Nael Hassan appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution days after contact with him was lost following his summons by the National Security Agency in Alexandria, while the prosecution decided to detain him for 15 days pending Case No. 4373 of 2026, on charges related to “broadcasting false news” and “using a website to promote terrorist acts”.
In the same framework, the continued detention of director and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei sparked a wide wave of rights condemnations, after he was subjected to enforced disappearance for several days before appearing, on 16 May, before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which decided to detain him pending Case No. 3835 of 2026 on the charge of spreading false news, while rights organisations affirmed that his arrest took place without a judicial warrant, with his home being stormed and his personal belongings confiscated, amid growing fears about the deterioration of his health as a result of being deprived of the necessary treatment after undergoing previous surgery following a fracture in his hand.
In a separate statement, the Law and Democracy Support Foundation condemned the arrest of “Marei” and considered his detention in an unknown place an enforced disappearance, holding the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for his physical and psychological safety, especially as he suffers from a chronic illness that requires regular daily treatment.
In the same context, the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression condemned the continued imprisonment of poet Galal El-Behairy after more than eight years of detention, demanding his immediate release and the correction of the legal procedures related to his case, given his continued pretrial detention despite no session having been set for his trial so far, and the deterioration of his health and psychological conditions in his place of detention.
For its part, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms issued a new analytical paper titled “Judicial Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Egypt”, as part of the outputs of the “Between the Cage and Exile” campaign, which monitored the patterns of targeting human rights defenders during the period from September 2024 to December 2025, with a focus on their referral to trial before terrorism circuits. The paper was based on an analysis of 110 cases that the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred to trial, among them 15 cases of human rights defenders.
It concluded that the targeting of defenders is no longer individual incidents, but a systematic pattern that includes illegal summonses, coercive interrogation, and extrajudicial surveillance measures, in addition to threats, travel bans and the bringing of charges linked to peaceful activity. It called for the immediate release of those detained on the basis of their rights work, an end to prolonged pretrial detention and the recycling of cases, and guaranteeing a fair trial before the natural judge away from exceptional circuits, along with lifting travel bans and asset freezes issued without final rulings.
Recommended reading: Azza Soliman: The Security Approach to Cases of Despair Is an Inadequate Solution, and the State Has Retreated from Social Protection
Targeting Journalists
Coinciding with World Press Freedom Day, on 3 May, the “Save Freedom of Opinion” campaign expressed its concern about the escalating targeting of journalists and writers, noting the referral of a number of imprisoned journalists to trial after years of pretrial detention, among them cartoonist Ashraf Omar, affirming that the authorities use loose charges, such as “spreading false news” and “joining a terrorist group”, to punish journalists for their professional work and their opinions.
In the same context, the trial of journalist Yasser Abu El-Ela, his wife and others shed light on the continued restrictions imposed on press freedom, as rights organisations considered that the case represents an extension of the ongoing campaign against journalists and opponents, especially with Abu El-Ela’s continued detention for more than two years, and his enforced disappearance for a period before appearing before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, in addition to his being subjected, according to his testimony, to torture and ill-treatment during his detention.
A rights statement pointed out that Egypt still ranks 169th globally in the press freedom index issued by “Reporters Without Borders”, amid the continued detention of dozens of journalists, and the use of prolonged pretrial detention as a tool of deterrence and intimidation, as the statement described it.
Likewise, the head of the Journalists Syndicate, Khaled El-Balshy, renewed the demands for the release of more than 19 male and female journalists imprisoned pending opinion cases, on the occasion of Eid al-Adha, affirming his rejection of the continuation of arrest campaigns and security prosecutions against journalists
“El-Balshy” stressed in a post on (Facebook) that security solutions do not represent an entry point for addressing political crises, calling for closing the file of imprisonment in opinion cases, expanding spaces of freedom, and guaranteeing journalists’ ability to perform their work safely and without restrictions. He demanded the removal of the obstacles that hinder the practice of the profession, and the improvement of journalists’ economic conditions, considering that a free and diverse press represents a basic guarantee for the whole of society, and not a sectoral demand, affirming that the syndicate will continue to support the families of imprisoned journalists and to seek the release of all of them.
Recommended reading: The Abnoub Massacre: 9 Dead, and the Perpetrator Was Known to Security and a Member of Reconciliation Committees
2. Pretrial detention and the right to life
Pretrial Detention
In the file of pretrial detention, the Giza Misdemeanours Court decided, on 16 May, to renew the detention of Sayed Moshagheb and a number of other defendants over celebrating his release, and they faced charges of demonstrating, displaying force, and possessing fireworks.
“Moshagheb” had been released after spending eleven years in detention, and despite that he was arrested with the defendants hours later on Thursday 16 April, and on Friday 17 April it was decided to detain them for 4 days pending investigations, and they were charged with participating in a demonstration that would disturb public peace, terrorise citizens and endanger their lives, displaying force and violence, and obtaining and possessing explosives and fireworks (flares), with the detention continuing to be renewed twice for a period of 15 days.
In a related context, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned the continued recycling of defendant Ahmed Sabry Nassef into new cases despite previous decisions to release him, noting that he currently faces three simultaneous cases after nine years of continuous violations, including solitary confinement and deprivation of communication with his family and lawyers.
18 parties, organisations and public figures announced their solidarity with Mohamed El-Kassas, deputy head of the Strong Egypt Party, demanding his release after more than eight years of detention, noting the solitary confinement, deprivation of visits and recycling into new cases he has been subjected to despite decisions to release him.
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party condemned the continued imprisonment of Ayman Abdel Rahman Mohamed Afifi, a member of the Popular Committee for the Defence of the Palestinian People and one of those injured in the 25 January revolution, since his arrest in September of last year, demanding his immediate release and that of all detainees of opinion, especially those detained over solidarity with Palestine.
The party explained, in a statement, that Abdel Rahman, a history teacher, was arrested in front of his school before later appearing at the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which charged him with offences including spreading false news and belonging to a banned group, pending Case No. 7143 of 2025 Supreme State Security, and he has since been held in pretrial detention in (Tenth of Ramadan Rehabilitation 6) prison.
The statement pointed out that he lost his right eye after being hit by birdshot during the events of 28 January 2011, and remained engaged in public work and the defence of national and Palestinian causes, considering that his continued imprisonment reflects increasing restrictions on the public sphere and the targeting of opposition voices and those in solidarity with Palestine.
69 Death Sentences in Two Months
At the level of trial conditions and death sentences, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights revealed that Egyptian courts issued during the months of March and April death sentences against 69 defendants in dozens of cases, in addition to referring the papers of approximately one hundred defendants to the Mufti, and carrying out death sentences against three people during April alone.
The Initiative said that during the month of April of this year, Egyptian courts issued death sentences against 45 defendants in 32 cases, among them two defendants whose sentences were final and not subject to appeal, and the death sentence was carried out against 3 people in 3 cases, in addition to referring the papers of 71 defendants to the Mufti in 33 other cases.
In March, the courts issued death sentences against 24 defendants, in 16 cases, among them one defendant whose sentence was final and not subject to appeal, in addition to referring the papers of 29 defendants to the Mufti in 8 other cases.
3. Refugees, migrants and transnational repression
Rising Hatred Against Refugees
In the file of refugees and migrants, the “Refugees Platform in Egypt” documented the escalation of campaigns detaining refugees and asylum seekers, especially Sudanese and Syrians, in various areas of Greater Cairo and Alexandria, including the detention of workers, migrants and children while they were moving about or heading to receive medical services, amid growing fears about the deterioration of their humanitarian and legal conditions.
The platform expressed its concern about the deterioration of humanitarian conditions at the Arqin border crossing between Egypt and Sudan, noting the recording of cases of death and fainting among those stranded because of overcrowding, high temperatures and the lack of basic services.
In the same context, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms condemned the continued detention of the Palestinian refugee Mohamed Ali Zanoun for more than two years without bringing him before a judicial authority or enabling him to have the guarantees of defence, considering that a violation of the Egyptian constitution and the rules of the Criminal Procedure Law.
And 17 Egyptians Victims of Irregular Migration
In another context, the discovery of 17 decomposed bodies of irregular migrants off the coast of Sidi Barrani once again shed light on the dangers of irregular migration across the Mediterranean, especially with estimates that the victims remained stranded at sea for weeks before the waves swept them towards the Egyptian coast.
Commenting, Nour Khalil, director of the Refugees Platform in Egypt, affirms that the advanced state of decomposition of the bodies indicates that the victims remained at sea for more than ten days, suggesting that they lost their course and remained clinging to the boat until the last moments. He explains that the boat, according to the circulated pictures, was not equipped with navigation means or distress devices such as a “Thuraya” phone, which prevented sending a distress call or determining its location.
He explains that the boats used in irregular migration, whether rubber, wooden or even large fishing boats, are all unsafe, pointing out that overloading or the absence of basic equipment makes the risk of drowning or getting lost at sea ever present, noting that migrants often realise the danger of the journey, but undertake it as “a conscious choice” driven by the absence of economic and social alternatives.
He tells “Zawia3”: “The focus on combating smuggling alone has not succeeded in curbing the phenomenon, considering that the current policies have led to diverting migration routes to more dangerous paths, especially via Libya, where rates of deaths and violations are rising.”
He affirms that the priority should be search and rescue operations and addressing the causes that drive young people to migrate, and not only toughening penalties or expanding security campaigns.
“Khalil” also criticises the Law on Combating Illegal Migration issued in 2016 and its subsequent amendments, considering that it focused on “criminalisation and punishment” without providing actual protection mechanisms for migrants and their families.
He points out that the mechanisms stipulated in the law, such as the Victims’ Protection Fund and the National Committee for Combating Illegal Migration, have not played an effective role on the ground, at a time when the numbers of victims and missing people are increasing annually.
Recommended reading: Europe Pays, Egypt Guards, and 17 Egyptians Drown off Matrouh
Transnational Repression..
In a context related to transnational repression, the Law and Democracy Support Foundation issued a report titled “Fleeing War Does Not Mean Survival”, in which it documented Sudanese refugee journalists in Egypt being subjected to multiple violations including threats, surveillance and legal and security pressure, considering that the country of asylum has become an extension of the spaces of repression linked to the conflict in Sudan.
In another statement, the foundation expressed concern over the detention of the Egyptian opposition activist Mariam Abdel Basset in the Sultanate of Oman after giving birth, amid fears of her deportation to Egypt through mechanisms linked to Interpol, considering that the case represents an escalating model of the use of transnational repression against political opponents.
4. Legislation and social rights
Rejected Legislation: How Is Parliament Moving?
In the legislative file, the draft family law for Christians drew wide criticism after 34 rights organisations and initiatives launched a petition demanding that the law be based on the principles of equality, human dignity and the right to litigation, with the expansion of the grounds for ending the marital relationship and not limiting them to adultery only, and guaranteeing the protection of women and children.
Likewise, the amendments to the Law on Workers’ Trade Union Organisations were met with wide rejection from trade unions, organisations and parties that considered that extending the trade union term represents a circumvention of the right to trade union organisation and democratic rotation, while the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights called for reforms that guarantee the integrity of trade union elections and prevent administrative interference in them.
The Center affirmed, in a statement, that the continuation of trade union councils without a renewed electoral mandate lacks legitimacy, especially with the economic and legislative changes that recent years have witnessed, including the new Labour Law and the change in wage policies.
Likewise, 24 trade unions, organisations and parties called on members of the House of Representatives to reject the proposal, considering that the step represents administrative interference in the affairs of trade unions and a circumvention of the right to trade union organisation, instead of addressing the shortcomings in the Trade Union Organisations Law No. 213 of 2017.
In a related context, the amendments to the Social Insurance and Pensions Law also sparked wide controversy, after the House of Representatives gave final approval to the draft without presenting the required actuarial study, while opponents considered that the amendments focused on rearranging the financial aspects without genuinely addressing the low value of pensions and their erosion by inflation.
Under the new amendments, the annual instalment paid by the public treasury to the Authority rises to about EGP 238.55 billion during the fiscal year (2025/2026), compared with about EGP 227.08 billion, an increase of nearly EGP 11 billion. The mechanism for the annual increase of the instalment will also be reorganised, so that it starts at a compound rate of 6.4% as of July 2026, then rises gradually by 0.2% annually until it reaches 7% by July 2029, in addition to adding a fixed amount of EGP 1 billion annually for five consecutive years.
Opponents of the amendments believe that the core of the crisis still remains, considering that the focus was limited to rearranging the financial and accounting aspects without genuinely addressing the low value of pensions and their erosion in the face of inflation and the rising cost of living, stressing that any financial increases will remain of limited impact unless pensions are fairly linked to the minimum wage and inflation rates, in a way that guarantees the protection of the purchasing power of millions of retirees.
Recommended reading: Outside the Government’s Calculations: How Does the Law Multiply the Suffering of “Pensioners”?
5. Work, safety and social insurance
Labour and Insurance Crises Continue
Two workers died and 15 others were injured, including women and children, in a road accident on the Sadat Road in Menoufia Governorate, on 18 May, while the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights considered the accident an extension of a recurring series of accidents involving the transport of irregular workers in conditions lacking safety standards.
The Center demanded, in a statement, urgent legislative intervention and the activation of the Emergency Benefit Fund and social and health services for irregular workers, including health and treatment support and the provision of safe means of transport, holding the Ministries of Manpower and Transport responsible for the continuation of these conditions because of weak oversight and preventive measures.
It pointed out that it documented, during the period from July 2024 to June 2025, 248 victims of worker transport accidents, including 55 deaths and 193 injuries, affirming the necessity of regulating irregular labour and tightening oversight of its means of transport and work sites.
In the same context, an analysis conducted by “Zawia3” in 2025 of 583 press reports on accidents on the Regional Ring Road between 2018 and mid-2025 showed that 2024 witnessed the largest number of accidents (151 accidents), which claimed the lives of at least 95 agricultural workers, and as a result of which at least 1084 people were injured, most of them workers. During the first half of 2025, 101 accidents were recorded, resulting in 95 deaths.
Commenting, Lamia Lotfy, founder of the Rural Women Initiative and programme director at the New Woman Foundation, says that the accidents to which agricultural workers are exposed happen almost daily, and usually leave only injuries or one or two deaths, and therefore they are not highlighted in the media, affirming that there is a problem of safe transport in rural areas in general, because the roads are narrow and most of them lie on the edges of canals, which makes erosion or potholes in them likely, and a paved road may be damaged after a short time as a result of continuous works, digging in the road, the use of water to spray the asphalt, and people placing speed bumps randomly for fear of the speed of cars in residential areas.
She explains to “Zawia3”: “Agricultural workers travel long distances from their homes and villages to the farms located in the surrounding desert areas, and unfortunately, the way girls and women travel is either by the “tricycle” (a three-wheeled motorcycle), which is an unlicensed and unsafe means, or by pickup trucks, and the vehicles are often dilapidated and their tyres worn, which increases the likelihood of danger.”
Why Doesn’t Road Spending Protect Farm Workers from Accidents in Egypt?
Also on the level of labour rights, Egyptian courts issued a number of rulings related to arbitrary dismissal, among them obliging the Universal Company for Engineering Industries to pay compensation to a worker who was arbitrarily dismissed, and also obliging the newspaper “Al-Bawaba News” to compensate a female journalist after her dismissal, as part of a series of cases linked to the conditions of journalists and workers at the institution.
In the file of social protection, the “Insaf Initiative” concluded the “Ink on Paper” campaign demanding the issuance of the executive regulations of the Law on the Care of the Rights of the Elderly, amid criticism of the government’s delay in activating the law despite more than a year having passed since its issuance, and what this represents, according to rights advocates and parliamentarians, in terms of disrupting the rights of the elderly to healthcare, social care and social security.
MP Freddy El-Bayadi had previously submitted two briefing requests on the same issue; the first after six months had passed since the issuance of the law, and the second after a year, and the government’s answer on both occasions was that “the regulations are ready and will be issued soon”, which has not happened to this day, as El-Bayadi affirms in his conversation with us.
“El-Bayadi” considers that the delay in issuing the executive regulations represents a flagrant disregard for the rights of the elderly, and an unacceptable ignoring of the will of the House of Representatives, and that the government’s obstruction of the issuance of the regulations is a flagrant violation of the constitution, and a breach of the principle of the rule of law affirmed by (Article 94) of the Egyptian constitution, and of citizens’ right to social security and a dignified life stipulated in (Article 17), which obliges the state to guarantee social insurance services and guarantees citizens who are not covered by social insurance the right to social security to ensure a dignified life for them.
He tells “Zawia3” that “the regulations were supposed to be issued within six months of the law’s passing. The law’s importance lies in the fact that it grants many rights and privileges to the elderly, and it is the least that can be offered to them in terms of rights; it is an honouring of the elderly who served the nation, and good privileges were set in the law, but without executive regulations, the law remains mere ink on paper, as if nothing had happened”.
6. Women’s and children’s rights, health and family
Child Marriage..
As for the level of women’s issues, health and gender rights, Egyptian feminist initiatives and organisations participated in international preparatory consultations for the United Nations High-Level Meeting on HIV, affirming their rejection of any retreat from international commitments related to gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights, and stressing the necessity of protecting civic space and feminist leaders amid rising pressure on civil society organisations.
Coinciding with International Women’s Health Day, on 28 May, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms shed light on the crisis of rising prices of sanitary pads in Egypt, considering that the difficulty of accessing them represents one of the forms of “period poverty”, which aggravates the economic and health burdens on women, especially in poor and marginalised areas.
The Commission pointed out that the prices of sanitary pads have witnessed large increases in recent years, while they are still treated as a “luxury commodity” subject to value added tax and additional customs duties, despite being a basic need linked to women’s health.
The Commission relied on testimonies of women who affirmed that they were forced to use lower-quality types or reduce the number of times they change pads, and even resort to reusable cloths because of rising prices, which threatens their physical and psychological health. It demanded the abolition of the taxes imposed on sanitary pads, and their inclusion among the basic healthcare supplies provided by the state, especially for the most economically vulnerable women and girls.
In another context, rights and feminist demands continued for the adoption of legislation that explicitly criminalises child marriage, coinciding with parliament’s anticipated discussions of the Personal Status Law, and the Idraak Foundation for Development and Equality called for filling what it described as the existing “legislative vacuum”, explaining that the current law merely prohibits the registration of marriage before the age of 18, without criminalising the act of marrying off itself, which allows the phenomenon to continue through customary marriage or the postponement of official registration.
MP Amira El-Adly had announced, last April, that she submitted a draft law to criminalise child marriage, affirming that the draft aims to establish a clear legal framework that criminalises this practice as a direct violation of children’s rights. Likewise, 45 civil society organisations and feminist initiatives concluded the “Not Before 18” campaign, which demanded the criminalisation of the marriage of underage girls and the activation of protection and support mechanisms for girls at risk.
For her part, researcher Zeinab Khair, a member of the board of directors of the Egyptian Coalition for Child Rights, points out that the current law is limited to prohibiting the registration of marriage for those under 18 years of age, without criminalising the act of marriage itself, which allows the marrying off of underage girls to continue outside the official framework, resulting in legal and social problems, most notably the difficulty of registering children, and the absence of any legal protection for the wife in cases of separation or abandonment.
She tells “Zawia3”: “Early marriage leaves serious health and psychological effects on girls, in addition to the risks of giving birth to children who suffer from health problems. And she affirms that not criminalising the phenomenon entrenches it socially instead of limiting it”, considering that amending the legislation has become a necessity to guarantee legal protection for girls under 18 years of age.
Controversy over the “Hosting Law” Raises Mothers’ Fears.. Why?
The “Mothers Up to the Challenge” initiative called on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi not to approve any personal status law “that detracts from the rights of women and children”, warning of the risks of applying the system of hosting and overnight stays in the absence of sufficient legal and executive guarantees, explaining that rulings on custody and the handing over of children remain “ineffective” because of weak enforcement mechanisms and the absence of legal deterrence, noting that the current law does not sufficiently criminalise the abduction of children by one of the parents, which allows them to be used as a bargaining chip in family disputes.
Gawaher El-Taher, director of the access to justice programme at the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, explains that the state of anxiety among mothers regarding the government’s draft personal status law is linked mainly to the absence of clear controls regulating the questions of hosting and visitation, explaining that many women do not object in principle to the child’s right to communicate with his father, but they fear the application of hosting in the absence of strict legal standards governing it.
She tells Zawia3: “Mothers ask: how can a father who does not pay alimony or suffers from addiction or violent behaviour be granted the right to host the child for days without guarantees?”, noting that the draft law did not include clear provisions specifying the conditions that must be met by the father or the mechanisms for protecting the child during hosting, which she describes as “a legitimate reason for mothers’ anxiety”.
She affirms that hosting is “a right of the child in the first place, and not a privilege for the father or the grandparents”, considering that part of the crisis is also due to weak societal awareness of the concept of hosting and the best interests of the child.
With regard to custody, she explains that among the positive points in the government’s draft is keeping the custody age at 15 years, denying the validity of what is being said about reducing it to 7 years for boys and 9 for girls, but she points to the existence of “discriminatory problems” in some articles, among them what relates to the Christian mother if her religion differs from the child’s religion, considering that the text gives preference to the Muslim father in a way that represents “clear discrimination between the Muslim and the Christian mother”.
She also criticises the continued linking of the mother’s custody to her marriage, explaining that the draft allows custody to remain with a married mother only if the child is under 7 years of age or has a disability or special health needs. She says that this approach pushes many women into customary marriage for fear of losing custody of their children, which the foundation has observed during its field work with women.
7. Heritage, the city and public transport
A Popular Petition to Save the Alexandria Tram
Rights organisations launched a popular petition demanding a halt to what they described as “the dismantling of one of the city’s most important historical landmarks”. The signatories of the petition, addressed to the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister, the Minister of Transport and the Governor of Alexandria, considered that the tram represents part of the cultural and visual identity of the city and a civilisational heritage protected under the constitution and the Urban Harmony Law, warning that the works of removing the tracks, bulldozing green spaces and cutting down historic trees represent an assault on the environment and the urban memory of Alexandria.
The petition also warned of the social and economic repercussions of the project, noting that cancelling a number of stations and the Sidi Gaber El-Sheikh line will affect thousands of citizens, especially students, employees and people on limited incomes who rely on the tram as a main, low-cost means of transport.
The signatories demanded a halt to the demolition and dismantling works, and the operation of the tram again at full capacity, along with the formation of an independent technical and legal committee including experts from Alexandria University and the National Organisation for Urban Harmony, to review the project and conduct a transparent community dialogue about its environmental, heritage and social impacts.
Recommended reading: The Alexandria Tram: Development Faster than Court Rulings
