May saw a marked escalation in security and judicial prosecutions linked to freedom of opinion and expression, with the continued use of pretrial detention and politically motivated trials against journalists, lawyers, human rights defenders and activists. This unfolded alongside growing criticism from rights groups concerning prison conditions, refugees, labour and social rights, and renewed debate over several bills and legislative amendments.
In this context, a new security crackdown targeted three members of the Committee for the Defence of Prisoners of Conscience: lawyers Wafaa El-Masry, Mohamed Abou El-Diyar and Hanan El-Tantawy. They appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Case No. 4502 of 2026, registered with the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
The prosecution accused Wafaa El-Masry and Hanan El-Tantawy of “spreading false news” before ordering their release on bail of EGP 50,000 each. Abou El-Diyar faced charges of joining a group established in violation of the law, spreading false news and using a social media account to promote it. He was remanded in custody for 15 days pending investigation.
The arrests came amid continuing prosecutions of the committee’s founders and members since its establishment in November 2025. Among the most prominent was the referral of poet and political activist Ahmed Douma to trial over his calls to improve conditions for prisoners. On 13 May, the New Cairo Misdemeanour Court reserved judgment until a hearing on 3 June, while keeping him in pretrial detention.
During the hearing, Douma asked the prosecution to visit his place of detention to verify the accounts he had published about conditions at Badr 1 Prison. Former MPs, lawyer Ziad El-Eleimy, who had been held in the same prison, and politician Ahmed El-Tantawy, who had been detained at 10th of Ramadan 4, were presented to substantiate his complaints. Journalists Syndicate board member Eman Auf also attended to testify, drawing on her professional experience to explain the distinction between an opinion article and a news report. The court rejected the defence’s requests to hear witnesses or inspect the prisons.
Human rights lawyer Haitham Mohamedein believes that the recent prosecutions of defenders of prisoners of conscience reflect the continuation of what he describes as a “vicious circle” of arrests, releases and rearrests. Some of those targeted, including Mohamed Abou El-Diyar, have been arrested more than once. In his view, this confirms that security policy has undergone no real change and that release decisions sometimes serve to ease tensions before renewed detention.
He tells Zawia3: “The current scene reveals an insistence on denying an open political climate. Egypt’s public sphere does not allow different opinions and political forces to exist. This is unhealthy for any society, because the absence of public oversight and an active civil society, including parties, unions and student and labour associations, means there is no public accountability of those in power. That, in turn, affects the economic and political conditions citizens endure.”
Mohamedein links the latest campaign to the rearrest of former prisoners of conscience, considering both part of the same pattern. He condemns the targeting of people calling for detainees’ release, rather than taking part in election events or public protests, stressing that those arrested were engaged in peaceful, lawful activities inside party premises to demand the release of prisoners of conscience.
Nael Hassan and Omar Salah Marei
Egyptian authorities also continued to pursue human rights defenders and activists. Rights activist Nael Hassan appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution several days after contact with him was lost following a summons by National Security in Alexandria. The prosecution remanded him for 15 days in Case No. 4373 of 2026 on charges relating to “broadcasting false news” and “using a website to promote terrorist acts”.
The continued detention of director and screenwriter Omar Salah Marei likewise drew widespread condemnation from rights groups. He was forcibly disappeared for several days before appearing on 16 May before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which ordered his detention in Case No. 3835 of 2026 on a charge of spreading false news. Rights organisations said he was arrested without a judicial warrant, his home was raided and his personal belongings confiscated. Concerns grew over his deteriorating health after he was denied necessary treatment following earlier surgery for a broken hand.
In a separate statement, the Law and Democracy Support Foundation condemned Marei’s arrest and described his detention at an unknown location as an enforced disappearance. It held the Egyptian authorities fully responsible for his physical and psychological safety, particularly as he has a chronic illness requiring regular daily treatment.
The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression also condemned the continued detention of poet Galal El-Behairy after more than eight years in custody. It called for his immediate release and for the legal procedures in his case to be corrected, as he remains in pretrial detention without a trial date and his physical and psychological health deteriorates.
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms published a new analytical paper, “Judicial Prosecutions of Human Rights Defenders in Egypt”, as part of its “Between the Cage and Exile” campaign. It documented patterns of targeting human rights defenders from September 2024 to December 2025, focusing on their referral to terrorism circuits. The paper analysed 110 cases referred to trial by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, including 15 involving human rights defenders.
It concluded that the targeting of defenders is no longer a series of isolated incidents, but a systematic pattern involving unlawful summonses, coercive questioning, extrajudicial surveillance, threats, travel bans and charges linked to peaceful activity. It called for the immediate release of those detained for their rights work, an end to prolonged pretrial detention and the recycling of cases, and fair trials before ordinary judges rather than exceptional circuits. It also urged the lifting of travel bans and asset freezes imposed without final judgments.
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Targeting Journalists
On World Press Freedom Day, 3 May, the “Save Freedom of Opinion” campaign expressed concern at the escalating targeting of journalists and writers. It pointed to the referral of detained journalists, including cartoonist Ashraf Omar, to trial after years in pretrial detention. It said authorities use vague charges such as “spreading false news” and “joining a terrorist group” to punish journalists for their professional work and opinions.
The trial of journalist Yasser Abou El-Ela, his wife and others also highlighted continuing restrictions on press freedom. Rights organisations considered the case an extension of the ongoing campaign against journalists and opponents, particularly given Abou El-Ela’s detention for more than two years and a period of enforced disappearance before his appearance before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. According to his testimony, he was also subjected to torture and ill-treatment in custody.
A rights statement noted that Egypt remains ranked 169th globally in the Reporters Without Borders press freedom index, with dozens of journalists still detained and prolonged pretrial detention used as a tool of deterrence and intimidation.
For Eid Al-Adha, Journalists Syndicate head Khaled El-Balshy renewed calls for the release of more than 19 male and female journalists held in cases involving their opinions, reiterating his rejection of ongoing arrests and security prosecutions of journalists.
In a Facebook post, El-Balshy stressed that security measures cannot resolve political crises. He called for an end to imprisonment over opinions, expanded freedoms and guarantees that journalists can work safely and without restrictions. He urged the removal of barriers to practising journalism and improvements to journalists’ economic circumstances. A free and diverse press, he said, is a fundamental safeguard for society as a whole, rather than a demand benefiting one profession. He affirmed that the syndicate would continue supporting detained journalists’ families and seeking their release.
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Pretrial Detention
On 16 May, the Giza Misdemeanour Court renewed the detention of Sayed Moshagheb and several other defendants following celebrations of his release. They faced charges of demonstrating, displaying force and possessing fireworks.
Moshagheb had been released after eleven years in detention, only to be arrested with the others hours later on Thursday, 17 April. The prosecution ordered their detention for four days pending investigation on Friday, 17 April, charging them with participating in a demonstration that disturbed public peace, terrorised citizens and endangered their lives, displaying force and violence, and possessing explosives and fireworks, including flares. Their detention was subsequently renewed twice for 15 days.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned the continued recycling of Ahmed Sabry Nasef into new cases despite previous release orders. It said he now faces three cases simultaneously after nine years of continuous violations, including solitary confinement and denial of contact with his family and lawyers.
Eighteen parties, organisations and public figures announced their solidarity with Mohamed El-Qassas, deputy head of the Strong Egypt Party, calling for his release after more than eight years in detention. They pointed to his solitary confinement, denial of visits and recycling into new cases despite release orders.
The Socialist Popular Alliance Party condemned the continued imprisonment of Ayman Abdel Rahman Mohamed Afifi, a member of the Popular Committee to Defend the Palestinian People and one of those injured in the 25 January Revolution, since his arrest in September last year. It demanded his immediate release and that of all prisoners of conscience, especially those detained for solidarity with Palestine.
In a statement, the party said Abdel Rahman, a history teacher, was arrested outside his school before later appearing before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He was charged with spreading false news and belonging to a banned group in Case No. 7143 of 2025, registered with the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He has since been held in pretrial detention at 10th of Ramadan Rehabilitation 6 Prison.
The statement said he lost his right eye after being hit by birdshot during the events of 28 January 2011 and remained involved in public life and the defence of national and Palestinian causes. It described his continued imprisonment as reflecting growing restrictions on the public sphere and the targeting of dissenting voices and those supporting Palestine.
69 Death Sentences in Two Months
On trials and capital punishment, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights revealed that Egyptian courts sentenced 69 defendants to death in dozens of cases during March and April. They also referred the papers of around 100 defendants to the Grand Mufti and executed three people in April alone.
In April this year, Egyptian courts issued death sentences against 45 defendants in 32 cases, including two whose judgments were final and could not be appealed. Three people were executed in three cases, while the papers of 71 defendants were referred to the Mufti in another 33 cases.
In March, courts sentenced 24 defendants to death in 16 cases, including one whose judgment was final and unappealable. They also referred the papers of 29 defendants to the Mufti in eight other cases.
Growing Hostility towards Refugees
On refugees and migrants, Refugees Platform in Egypt documented escalating arrest campaigns against refugees and asylum seekers, particularly Sudanese and Syrians, across Greater Cairo and Alexandria. These included the detention of workers, migrants and children while travelling or seeking medical services, amid growing concern over their humanitarian and legal circumstances.
The platform expressed concern at deteriorating humanitarian conditions at the Arqin border crossing between Egypt and Sudan. It reported deaths and cases of fainting among those stranded there because of overcrowding, high temperatures and a lack of basic services.
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms condemned the continued detention of Palestinian refugee Mohamed Ali Zannoun for more than two years without being brought before a judicial authority or afforded defence guarantees. It described this as a violation of Egypt’s Constitution and the Code of Criminal Procedure.
17 Egyptians Fall Victim to Irregular Migration
The discovery of 17 decomposed bodies of irregular migrants off Sidi Barrani brought renewed attention to the dangers of crossing the Mediterranean. The victims may have been stranded at sea for weeks before waves washed them towards the Egyptian coast.
Nour Khalil, director of Refugees Platform in Egypt, says the advanced decomposition indicates that the victims had been at sea for more than ten days. He believes they lost their way and clung to the boat until their final moments. According to the photographs circulated, the boat lacked navigation equipment or emergency communications devices such as a Thuraya satellite phone, preventing them from sending a distress call or identifying their location.
He explains that boats used for irregular migration, whether inflatable, wooden or even large fishing vessels, are all unsafe. Overloading and the absence of basic equipment leave a constant risk of sinking or becoming lost at sea. Migrants often understand the danger, he says, but undertake the journey as a “conscious choice” driven by the absence of economic and social alternatives.
He tells Zawia3 that focusing solely on combating smuggling has failed to reduce the phenomenon. Current policies, he believes, have diverted migration towards more dangerous routes, particularly through Libya, where death rates and violations are higher.
He stresses that the priority should be search and rescue and addressing the reasons young people migrate, rather than simply increasing penalties or expanding security campaigns.
Khalil also criticises the 2016 anti-irregular migration law and its subsequent amendments, arguing that they focused on “criminalisation and punishment” without providing effective protection for migrants and their families.
He says mechanisms set out in the law, such as the victim protection fund and the national committee to combat irregular migration, have not played an effective role on the ground, while the number of victims and missing people rises each year.
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Transnational Repression
The Law and Democracy Support Foundation published a report, “Escaping War Does Not Mean Survival”, documenting violations against Sudanese journalists who sought refuge in Egypt. These included threats, surveillance and legal and security pressures. It concluded that the country of refuge had become an extension of the spaces of repression linked to Sudan’s conflict.
In another statement, the foundation expressed concern about the detention of Egyptian opposition activist Mariam Abdel Basset in Oman after she gave birth, amid fears that she could be deported to Egypt through mechanisms linked to Interpol. It described the case as an example of the growing use of transnational repression against political opponents.
Contested Legislation: How Is Parliament Proceeding?
The draft Christian family law drew widespread criticism after 34 rights organisations and initiatives launched a petition calling for the legislation to uphold equality, human dignity and access to justice. They demanded broader grounds for ending a marriage, rather than restricting them to adultery, and safeguards for women and children.
Amendments to the trade union organisations law also faced widespread opposition from unions, organisations and parties that saw extending the union term as circumventing the right to organise and democratic succession. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights called for reforms ensuring fair union elections and preventing administrative interference.
In a statement, the centre said the continuation of union boards without a renewed electoral mandate lacks legitimacy, especially given recent economic and legislative changes, including the new Labour Law and changes in wage policies.
Twenty-four unions, organisations and parties also called on MPs to reject the proposal. They considered it administrative interference in union affairs and an attempt to circumvent the right to organise, rather than address shortcomings in Trade Union Organisations Law No. 213 of 2017.
Amendments to the Social Insurance and Pensions Law also sparked debate after the House of Representatives gave final approval without the required actuarial study. Opponents argued that the changes reorganised financial arrangements without meaningfully addressing low pension payments and their erosion by inflation.
Under the amendments, the annual instalment paid by the public treasury to the authority rises to approximately EGP 238.55 billion in fiscal year 2025/2026, from about EGP 227.08 billion, an increase of roughly EGP 11 billion. The mechanism for annual increases will also be reorganised, beginning at a compound rate of 6.4% from July 2026, then rising by 0.2 percentage points each year until reaching 7% in July 2029. A fixed EGP 1 billion will also be added annually for five consecutive years.
Opponents believe the core crisis remains unresolved. They say the changes focus on financial and accounting arrangements without meaningfully addressing low pensions and their erosion by inflation and rising living costs. Any increases will have limited impact unless pensions are fairly linked to the minimum wage and inflation rates, protecting the purchasing power of millions of retirees.
Recommended reading: Outside the Government’s Calculations: How Does the Law Deepen Pensioners’ Hardship?
Labour and Social Insurance Crises Continue
Two workers died and 15 others, including women and children, were injured in a road accident on the Sadat road in Menoufia on 18 May. The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights described it as part of a recurring series of accidents involving the transport of informal workers in conditions lacking safety standards.
In a statement, the centre called for urgent legislative intervention and activation of the emergency assistance and social and health services fund for informal workers. This should include medical support and safe transport. It held the labour and transport ministries responsible for the continued conditions because of weak oversight and preventive measures.
It said it documented 248 casualties in worker transport accidents between July 2024 and June 2025: 55 deaths and 193 injuries. It stressed the need to regulate informal employment and strengthen oversight of transport and workplaces.
A Zawia3 analysis conducted in 2025 of 583 news reports on Regional Ring Road accidents between 2018 and mid-2025 found that 2024 recorded the highest number, with 151 accidents. At least 95 agricultural workers were killed and at least 1,084 people injured, most of them workers. In the first half of 2025, 101 accidents were recorded, resulting in 95 deaths.
Lamia Lotfy, founder of the Rural Women Initiative and programmes director at the New Woman Foundation, says accidents involving agricultural workers occur almost daily. They usually cause injuries or one or two deaths and consequently receive little media attention. She stresses that safe transport is a broader problem in rural areas: roads are narrow and often run along canal edges, making erosion and potholes more likely. Paved roads may deteriorate quickly because of ongoing works, digging, the use of water to spray asphalt and residents installing speed bumps at random out of fear of speeding vehicles in residential areas.
She tells Zawia3: “Agricultural workers travel long distances from their homes and villages to farms in the surrounding desert areas. Unfortunately, girls and women travel either on three-wheeled motorcycles, which are unlicensed and unsafe, or in pickup trucks. The vehicles are often dilapidated and their tyres worn, increasing the danger.”
طرق قاتلة: لماذا لا تحمي مليارات التطوير أرواح العمالة الزراعية؟
On labour rights, Egyptian courts also issued several judgments concerning unfair dismissal, including an order requiring Universal Engineering Industries to compensate a dismissed worker. Al-Bawaba News was likewise ordered to compensate a journalist after her dismissal, in a series of cases concerning journalists and employees at the organisation.
On social protection, the Insaf Initiative concluded its “Ink on Paper” campaign demanding the issuance of executive regulations for the law protecting older people’s rights. The government has faced criticism for failing to implement the law more than a year after its enactment. Rights advocates and MPs say this obstructs older people’s rights to healthcare, social care and social security.
MP Freddy El-Bayady had previously submitted two parliamentary requests for clarification on the issue: one six months after the law’s passage and another after a year. On both occasions, the government said, “The regulations are ready and will be issued soon.” That still has not happened, El-Bayady tells us.
El-Bayady views the delay as blatant disregard for older people’s rights and unacceptable neglect of parliament’s will. He says the government’s obstruction violates the Constitution, including the rule of law enshrined in Article 94 and citizens’ right to social security and a dignified life under Article 17. The latter requires the state to provide social insurance services and guarantees social security to citizens not covered by social insurance, ensuring them a dignified life.
He tells Zawia3: “The regulations were supposed to be issued within six months of the law’s passage. The law matters because it grants older people many rights and benefits, the least they deserve. It honours older people who have served the country. Good benefits were included in the law, but without executive regulations it remains ink on paper, as if nothing had happened.”
Child Marriage
On women’s health and gender rights, Egyptian feminist initiatives and organisations participated in international preparatory consultations for the UN high-level meeting on HIV. They rejected any retreat from international commitments on gender equality and sexual and reproductive rights and stressed the need to protect civic space and feminist leadership amid mounting pressure on civil society organisations.
On International Women’s Health Day, 28 May, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms highlighted rising sanitary pad prices in Egypt. It described difficulty accessing them as a form of “period poverty” that exacerbates women’s economic and health burdens, particularly in poor and marginalised areas.
The commission said sanitary pad prices have increased substantially in recent years, while the products continue to be treated as a “luxury” subject to value-added tax and additional customs duties, despite being an essential need linked to women’s health.
It cited testimonies from women forced by higher prices to use poorer-quality products, change pads less frequently or resort to reusable cloth, threatening their physical and psychological health. It called for the abolition of taxes on sanitary pads and their inclusion among essential healthcare supplies provided by the state, particularly for economically vulnerable women and girls.
Rights and feminist groups continued demanding legislation that explicitly criminalises child marriage, ahead of anticipated parliamentary discussions of the Personal Status Law. The Edraak Foundation for Development and Equality called for closing what it described as a “legislative vacuum”. Current law prohibits registering marriages before the age of 18 but does not criminalise the marriage itself, allowing the practice to continue through informal marriages or delayed official registration.
In April, MP Amira El-Adly announced that she had submitted a bill criminalising child marriage. It aims to establish a clear legal framework criminalising the practice as a direct violation of children’s rights. Forty-five civil society organisations and feminist initiatives also concluded the “Not Before 18” campaign, demanding the criminalisation of underage marriage and effective protection and support mechanisms for girls at risk.
Researcher Zeinab Khair, a board member of the Egyptian Coalition for Children’s Rights, notes that current law only bans registering marriages involving those under 18, without criminalising the marriage itself. This allows underage marriage to continue outside the official framework, creating legal and social problems, particularly difficulties registering children and the lack of legal protection for wives in cases of separation or abandonment.
She tells Zawia3: “Early marriage has serious physical and psychological consequences for girls, alongside the risk of children being born with health problems.” She stresses that failing to criminalise the practice entrenches it socially rather than limiting it, and considers legislative reform essential to guarantee legal protection for girls under 18.
A Public Petition to Save Alexandria’s Tram
Rights organisations launched a public petition calling for a halt to what they described as “the dismantling of one of the city’s most important historic landmarks”. Addressed to the president, prime minister, transport minister and Alexandria governor, the petition says the tram is part of the city’s cultural and visual identity and a civilisational heritage protected by the Constitution and the urban harmony law. Signatories warned that removing tracks, clearing green areas and cutting historic trees harm Alexandria’s environment and urban memory.
The petition also warned of the project’s social and economic consequences. Removing several stops and the Sidi Gaber El-Sheikh line would affect thousands of residents, especially students, employees and low-income people who rely on the tram as a principal, inexpensive means of transport.
Signatories demanded a halt to demolition and dismantling, the restoration of full tram services, and an independent technical and legal committee comprising experts from Alexandria University and urban conservation bodies to review the project and conduct transparent public dialogue about its environmental, heritage and social impacts.
Recommended reading: Alexandria’s Tram: Development Moves Faster than Court Rulings
Why Does the “Hosting Law” Worry Mothers?
The “Mothers Equal to the Challenge” initiative called on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi not to approve any personal status law that “diminishes women’s and children’s rights”. It warned of the dangers of hosting and overnight stays without adequate legal and enforcement safeguards. Orders to return and hand over children remain “ineffective” because of weak enforcement and a lack of legal deterrence, it said. Current law does not sufficiently criminalise parental child abduction, allowing children to be used as leverage in family disputes.
Jawaher El-Taher, director of the Access to Justice programme at the Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, explains that mothers’ concern about the government’s draft Personal Status Law centres on the lack of clear rules governing hosting and visitation. Many women do not object in principle to a child’s right to communicate with their father, but fear hosting arrangements implemented without strict legal standards.
She tells Zawia3: “Mothers ask: how can a father who does not pay maintenance, suffers from addiction or behaves violently be granted the right to host a child for days without safeguards?” The bill, she says, lacks clear provisions defining the requirements a father must meet or mechanisms to protect children during stays, which she describes as “a legitimate cause for mothers’ concern”.
She stresses that hosting is “first and foremost a right of the child, rather than a privilege for the father or grandparents”. Part of the crisis also stems from limited public understanding of hosting and the child’s best interests.
On custody, she identifies maintaining the custody age at 15 as a positive feature of the government’s draft, denying reports that it would be reduced to seven for boys and nine for girls. However, she points to “discriminatory problems” in some provisions, including those concerning Christian mothers whose religion differs from that of their child. She says the text favours the Muslim father in a way that constitutes “clear discrimination between Muslim and Christian mothers”.
She also criticises the continued linking of a mother’s custody rights to her marital status. The draft allows a remarried mother to retain custody only if the child is under seven or has a disability or special health needs. This approach, she says, pushes many women towards informal marriages out of fear of losing custody, a pattern the centre has documented through its fieldwork with women.
