The mother of imprisoned Egyptian opposition figure Alaa Abdel Fattah decided to change her total hunger strike to a partial one after her health deteriorated in the fifth consecutive month. She cited developments that gave her hope of her son’s release, her daughter Sanaa Seif wrote on Facebook on Tuesday, March 4.
Seif said Laila Soueif, 68, had responded to the family’s appeals. She told her doctor in a London hospital: “There have been developments that gave me hope, and I want to turn the strike into a partial one, allowing me 300 calories in liquid form, not food.” Soueif began refusing all food on September 30 to protest her son’s continued detention after his sentence ended on September 28.
Fifty writers, journalists and rights advocates issued an urgent appeal to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to pardon Alaa under Article 155 of Egypt’s constitution, which authorizes the president, after consulting the cabinet, to pardon or reduce a sentence; a general amnesty requires a law approved by a majority of MPs.
MP Freddy El-Baiady submitted an urgent parliamentary question to the prime minister and justice and interior ministers over Alaa’s continued detention, despite no other judgments or referral to new cases. He described it as a clear breach of constitutional Article 54 and Criminal Procedure Code Article 480. His request, entitled “For the Release of Alaa Abdel Fattah and Prisoners Whose Terms Have Ended,” demanded reasons for non-release, review of similar unlawful detentions, respect for law and constitutional safeguards, and protection of fundamental rights.
El-Baiady also highlighted Soueif’s critical condition after more than 150 days on hunger strike, warning that continued detention endangered her life. She had lost nearly 30 kilograms since September and was hospitalized at St Thomas’ in late February after dangerously low blood sugar and pressure, her daughter Mona Seif wrote on X.
Recommended reading: MP Freddy El-Baiady: Egypt Faces a Historic Debt Catastrophe—Where Did the Loans Go? (interview).
Refugee issues
The fourth annual report of “From Sea to Prison,” a joint activist project of Arci Porco Rosso and borderline-europe running since 2021, documented 106 arrests of migrants accused of facilitating irregular migration, especially after arrival by sea. The project monitors the criminalization of people called “smugglers” in Italy and provides social and legal support.
Egyptians made up 35% of arrested boat drivers; Tunisians 16%; nationals of Chad, Sudan, South Sudan, Ethiopia and Eritrea 17%; Afghanistan, Iran, Iraq, Syria and Turkey 10%; Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Russia, Ukraine and Uzbekistan 12%; and other nationalities 10%.
As in previous years, Italy criminalized more Egyptians than any other nationality in 2024: at least 37, over a third of the total. Tunisians ranked second. Based on official arrivals, about one in 100 Egyptians arriving by sea was criminalized, compared with one in 200 Tunisians. Overall, one in 600 sea arrivals was arrested, slightly higher than one in 800 in 2023.
Several cases concerned minor boat drivers, making age verification central to criminal proceedings. Only one was heard by a juvenile court: Ahmed, a 17-year-old Egyptian arrested in July 2023 and tried in Palermo under Article 12 bis, the new offence introduced by the Meloni government. Two other young defendants were tried as adults.
Italy returns 43 migrants from Albanian camps after a court cancels detention
Italian authorities returned 43 migrants to the coastal city of Bari after Rome’s appeals court annulled their detention in Italian-run camps in Albania under the bilateral agreement with Tirana to process asylum claims outside Italy.
According to migration-focused East West, they would stay at a local centre in Palese Cara. Security personnel, health workers and Arci activists received them at the Apulian port. Arci has strongly opposed fast-track asylum processing in Albanian detention camps.
They were part of a group of 49, mostly Egyptians and Bangladeshis, intercepted south of Lampedusa and transported by an Italian navy ship to Albania in the third transfer operation under the November 2023 agreement. Six had already returned to Italy because they were minors or vulnerable.
The court referred the case to the Court of Justice of the European Union to determine criteria for designating countries of origin “safe.” This further obstructed the government’s list of 19 safe countries, including Egypt and Bangladesh.
It was the third judicial ruling against the transfers. Rome’s court had issued similar decisions in October and November 2024, finding violations of EU asylum rules and referring cases to the European court. That court ruled in October that fast-track procedures leading to return are impermissible unless the country is demonstrably safe.
The report said the latest ruling reaffirmed the transfers’ unlawfulness despite the government’s attempt to reduce ordinary courts’ powers and move migration cases to the appeals court. Rome’s court maintained that transfers violated asylum seekers’ safeguards.
Giorgia Meloni’s right-wing government remains committed to the agreement as part of a wider plan for regional reception centres beyond EU borders, supported by some Brussels partners. Italy’s Interior Ministry says the centres aim to process around 3,000 applications monthly. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen described the agreement as a model for other member states.
The National Council for Human Rights meets advocates after a downgrade recommendation
On March 9, the council held a roundtable on challenges facing civil-society organizations and rights activists at a central Cairo hotel. Egypt-based advocates attended in person, while prominent advocates abroad joined remotely.
Participants included Hossam Bahgat, Dalia Zakhary, Mervat Abou Teig, Ahmed Ragheb, Mohamed El-Baqer, Mohamed Lotfy, Sherif Azer, Mohamed Abdel Salam and Mohamed Abdel Aziz, alongside researcher Abdel Nasser Qandil. Mozn Hassan, Ahmed Mefreh, Mohamed Zaree, Moataz El-Fegiery and Ahmed Samih joined remotely. Magdy Abdel Hamid, executive director of the council’s joint project with the EU delegation in Cairo, moderated.
Late last year, the Global Alliance of National Human Rights Institutions’ Sub-Committee on Accreditation recommended downgrading Egypt’s council to B status, reflecting failure to comply fully with international standards.
UN concern over transnational repression
Five UN rapporteurs wrote to Egypt expressing concern over harassment and transnational repression against journalist Basma Mostafa in Germany, Switzerland and elsewhere, allegedly by people employed by, acting for or operating with the consent of Egyptian authorities.
The letter described physical attacks, intimidation, surveillance and attempted cyberattacks, which the rapporteurs considered a continuation of systematic targeting of women human rights defenders. They had previously written about abuses against Egyptian journalists and defenders abroad in 2022, 2023 and 2024, seeking explanations for a broad pattern against women defenders over the past decade. Egypt had answered none.
Mostafa told Zawia3 these practices form a systematic policy against journalists and defenders, particularly those documenting violations in Egypt. As programme director at the Berlin-based foundation supporting democratic law, she oversees documentation of Egyptian transnational repression through smear campaigns, arrests, pursuit of relatives and denial of consular services.
She was arrested three times over her journalism, most recently in October 2020, when she disappeared for 24 hours before State Security prosecutors accused her of terrorist-group membership and false news. Released under international pressure, she faced surveillance and pressure that forced her to leave within a month. She moved through Lebanon and Kenya, facing security questioning and suspicious harassment, before settling in Berlin on a human-rights-defender fellowship. Despite the difficulties of exile, threats and risks, she continues exposing abuses against Egyptian journalists and activists.
Recommended reading: Khaled El-Balshy to Zawia3: We Will Not Accept Laws Restricting Journalists’ Freedom in the Street.
Egypt receives the lowest rating in the 2024 trade union freedoms index
Egypt received rating 5 in the Arab Trade Union Confederation’s 2024 index. The report, “No Guarantees for Rights,” recorded 18 violations of international agreements Egypt has signed on trade union freedoms and fair employment relations.
The confederation is part of the International Trade Union Confederation. Its annual index ranks countries from 1, best, to 5, worst, according to compliance with international standards.
Although Trade Union Organizations Law 213/2017 permits union formation and activity and prohibits discrimination, practice differs. Judicial rulings and documents declare independent unions in various sectors unlawful, while excessive and unreasonable registration conditions obstruct unions dissolved in 2018. Eleven union committees still await registration.
The report also identified discrimination through excluding groups such as domestic workers from labour-law protection and unequal pay for women. Child labour reached 9.3%: around 1.59 million of 17.1 million children aged 5–17 work, 21% of them girls. Nearly half perform hazardous work, mostly unpaid family labour.
It separately documented unequal treatment in fair employment relations, including domestic workers’ exclusion and gender wage disparities despite equal jobs and responsibilities, breaching international labour standards.
Labour journalist Hisham Fouad told Zawia3 that the government claimed broad dialogue on the new Labour Law but invited only ideologically aligned independent unionists, ignoring genuinely independent unions, civil society and professional syndicates. The Journalists Syndicate head repeatedly sought participation from the Labour Ministry without a positive reply. Reforms such as Law 213/2017, intended to remove Egypt from the ILO blacklist and secure conditional EU assistance, remained cosmetic and unimplemented.
Read Zawia3’s report: Restrictions on Workers’ Rights Put Egypt among the Worst Countries for Trade Union Freedoms.
The draft Labour Law sparks controversy
The Egyptian Social Democratic Party’s parliamentary and expert secretariats held a workshop to develop a unified position and proposed amendments, balancing investment with fair conditions and workers’ rights across sectors.
Substantive proposals covered job security, minimum wages, recruitment through employment agencies and domestic workers’ rights, seeking more balanced relations suited to current economic and social changes.
The House of Representatives approved the bill in principle after extensive discussion of the joint report of the Manpower Committee and the bureaus of the constitutional and legislative affairs and planning and budget committees. Amendments sought balance between workers and employers.
Parliamentary, Legal and Political Communication Minister Mahmoud Fawzy said the law reflected labour-market changes and encouraged stable investment without undermining rights. The government would reconsider some provisions for greater conformity with international standards. Final voting was postponed to a later session.
The bill generated political, labour and rights debate over provisions considered incompatible with international standards. It covers private-sector employees, over 80% of the workforce, approximately 24.167 million people. CAPMAS data show 37.6% working inside establishments and 44.7% outside them.
Criticism focused on the lack of comprehensive dialogue. The Center for Trade Union and Workers Services launched an online petition for hearings involving all stakeholders, but the Manpower Committee heard government representatives without inviting independent unions.
Parliament introduced definitions of workplace harassment and bullying: harassment covers sexual or pornographic gestures, words, actions or electronic conduct; bullying covers intimidation, domination or ridicule. Discussions addressed pregnancy and breastfeeding leave and foreign employment, removing reciprocity from Article 69 to simplify procedures. Amendments also created a fund paying irregular workers’ social-insurance contributions and recognized remote work and digital platforms.
Unsafe workplaces
Egypt’s industrial sector suffers from poor occupational health and safety compliance and deteriorating workplaces, causing repeated injury and death. The latest incident killed three workers after boiler explosions at a spinning and weaving factory in Mahalla El-Kubra.
The Center for Trade Union and Workers Services urged responsible bodies to review and strictly enforce inspections and hold negligent officials accountable for hundreds of recent injuries and deaths.
MP Evelyn Matta Boutros, a member of the Industry Committee, submitted a parliamentary question to the public business sector minister, the Spinning and Weaving Holding Company head and the factory’s chief executive about neglected boiler monitoring that killed three workers in succession. She requested joint referral to parliament’s industry and human rights committees.
Read Zawia3’s report: Worker Safety in Egypt: Absent Oversight and Repeated Fatal Accidents.
Amnesty demands an end to reprisals against Tenth of Ramadan prisoners
Amnesty International urged Egypt to end reprisals against Tenth of Ramadan prisoners hunger striking against arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman conditions.
Its statement said detainees at Tenth of Ramadan 6 began striking in early January. They sought release after more than six months’ pretrial detention, outdoor exercise, full visits and removal of the National Security officer responsible for the prison, known for repression and abuse. Authorities confiscated belongings and transferred at least three to other prisons notorious for harsh conditions as punishment.
Fourteen released, including blogger Suzy El-Ordonia
On March 9, the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered 14 people released in case 1516/2022, including 19-year-old content creator Suzy El-Ordonia, after four days’ detention in case 925/2025 on terrorist-group membership and false-news charges. She had been arrested following a company complaint alleging she disparaged it on social media.
39 greenhouse workers released
On March 22, Tenth of Ramadan district court released 39 workers from the National Company for Protected Agriculture, affiliated with the Armed Forces’ National Service Projects Organization, on EGP 3,000 bail each in Third Tenth of Ramadan misdemeanour case 484/2025.
Police arrested them on March 4 after dispersing a workplace sit-in demanding Ramadan-related financial entitlements. The next day prosecutors ordered four days’ detention for gathering, disrupting production and resisting authorities. They remained detained until the judge’s March 22 release order.
Abdel Khalek Farouk’s detention renewed despite worsening health
On March 12, the criminal court’s Second Terrorism Circuit renewed economist Abdel Khalek Farouk’s detention for 45 days in case 4937/2024.
He complained of inadequate sunlight, life-threatening illnesses, insufficient healthcare and being locked in a cell for 23 hours daily, damaging his psychological condition. Tenth of Ramadan prison transferred him to its hospital for the second time after a cardiac episode and suspected coronary narrowing, his second since arrest four months earlier.
Security forces arrested him at home on October 21 after articles criticizing President El-Sisi’s economic policies. Charges include joining a terrorist group, false news and misuse of social media.
State Security releases three defendants in one case
On March 6, State Security prosecutors released three defendants in Supreme State Security investigation case 5919/2024, accused of false news and terrorist-group membership.
Rights lawyer Mamdouh Gamal sees an apparent move toward release but says it remains far too weak to meet families’ hopes after prolonged suffering. Continued detention deepens prisoners’ frustration and despair. This situation drove Laila Soueif to hunger strike to make officials hear her demand for Alaa’s release.
The right to health
People with muscular dystrophy face medicine shortages and soaring prices linked to the dollar crisis. Patients told Zawia3 of inadequate services and unavailable specialist care at public hospitals, despite repeated initiatives and promises. The Health Insurance Authority has also failed to implement binding judgments requiring treatment of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.
Patients and relatives said court orders obtained years ago for lifelong free treatment remain unimplemented because of the authority’s refusal. An administrative source attributed this to insufficient funds for costly imported medicines and no current initiative budget. The Health Ministry consequently does not supply prescribed treatments, and the worsening dollar crisis offers no imminent solution.
In June 2021, the Health Ministry announced a presidential treatment initiative and 24 centres offering gene therapy to children through health insurance and comprehensive insurance programmes. In July it signed a Biologix cooperation protocol to treat affected children over two.
Read Zawia3’s report: Muscular Dystrophy: Patients Face Death while the Government Is Out of Service.
Economic and social rights
Egyptians await fuel-price increases as the government resumes subsidy cuts at the end of March, confirmed by Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly at the cabinet’s March 15 press conference in the New Administrative Capital.
The government aims to phase out fuel and energy subsidies entirely by the end of 2025. Madbouly said cross-subsidies between products would remain and cooking-gas cylinders would stay subsidized.
The move reflects IMF commitments to restructure subsidies for efficient resource allocation. On March 11, the IMF Executive Board approved Egypt’s fourth loan disbursement of USD 1.2 billion and an additional USD 1.3 billion from the Resilience and Sustainability Facility, payable in instalments.
Read Zawia3’s report: Fuel without Subsidies: Egyptians Face a New Wave of Rising Prices.
Recommended reading: Rising Prices Devour Pensions: How Do Retirees Survive Ramadan?
Higher litigation fees
Cairo Court of Appeal President Mohamed Nasr Sayed’s February 20 decision, applied from March 1, raising litigation, automated-service and judicial fees caused widespread legal-sector anger. Lawyers and union representatives said it conflicts with Egypt’s constitution, laws and international obligations to ensure affordable justice.
Lawyers brought a direct misdemeanour action against Prime Minister Madbouly, Justice Minister Adnan Fangary and court presidents behind the increases, alleging unlawful exaction under Penal Code Article 114. The article punishes a public official responsible for taxes, fees, revenues or fines who knowingly demands or takes sums not due or above the amount due with temporary hard labour or imprisonment. The plaintiffs argued the new fees exceed legal and constitutional limits.
The dispute created a crisis between lawyers and judges. The Bar Association announced a halt to dealings with court treasuries and threatened a comprehensive court boycott, saying justice could become accessible only to wealthy people while poor and low-income citizens lose a fundamental right.
Zawia3 obtained the full list of 38 affected services. These include adding enforcement clauses to family, labour and general judgments; registering appeals; reinstating struck-out cases; accelerating stayed cases and cassation proceedings; correcting appeal form; joining parties; service, reinstatement and re-service.
Read Zawia3’s report: Higher Litigation Fees in Egypt: A Lawsuit Accuses the Government of Unlawful Exaction.
A prosecutor-general complaint about encroachment on Hankorab
On March 22, 2025, an ECESR lawyer submitted complaint 21625/2025 to Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawky Ayyad, seeking investigation of construction encroachment at Ras Hankorab within Wadi El-Gemal nature reserve, an invaluable natural and environmental treasure.
At Sharm El-Luli beach, 55 kilometres from Marsa Alam in the southern Red Sea, excavation and construction by heavy machinery belonging to Impact Tourism Investment alarmed environmental advocates. The company belongs to Hassan Wahdan, brother of MP Suleiman Wahdan, a founder of the government-aligned new National Front Party.
The project includes a hotel, chalets, restaurants, changing rooms, toilets and a diving centre. Experts and activists consider it a clear violation of Nature Reserves Law 102/1983, threatening biodiversity at a beach ranked nineteenth among the world’s most beautiful.
Read Zawia3’s report: Ras Hankorab: Money versus the Environment in Wadi El-Gemal Reserve.
Women’s rights
As International Women’s Day activities concluded on March 8, the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law ended its campaign “My Life Is Not under Surveillance: My Life, My Choice.” Its statement affirmed women’s and girls’ indivisible right to freedom and independence, regardless of background or status, without monitoring or constant interference.
The foundation received testimonies from women facing severe challenges over choosing to live alone, yet demonstrating strength and determination to live with dignity. It called for awareness, enforcement of protective laws and a unified law criminalizing violence against women and girls, protecting personal decisions from unjustified interference.
It urged an end to discrimination against women living alone, support in a conservative society and collective responsibility for equality and justice. An independent woman’s life should be respected rather than subjected to scrutiny.
Edraak for Development and Equality issued a statement for International Women’s Day, marking 30 years since the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action, under the 2025 theme “For ALL Women and Girls: Rights. Equality. Empowerment.” It warned that overlapping crises are eroding rights despite three decades of effort.
One in five girls globally marries before 18; in 20 of 121 countries with data, at least one in ten women was married by 15. Fewer than two-thirds of women participate in the labour market, unpaid domestic work consumes far more time than men’s, wages remain lower in most sectors, and women face restrictions on sexual and reproductive health decisions and access to appropriate care.
A woman is killed by a partner or relative every ten minutes, while 612 million women and girls live amid armed conflict. Palestinian and Sudanese women endure killing, exploitation, starvation and deprivation of livelihoods and education. Regionally, women face higher poverty and illiteracy, fewer financial resources, training and jobs, political barriers and gender violence.
Girls lack guidance into science and technology. Digital tools create hostile environments, intensify violence, silence women and transfer harm into offline life. Climate threats disproportionately affecting women and girls will widen suffering and inequality.
Edraak called for local mechanisms and legislation protecting Egyptian women in public and private life, safe environments from homes to workplaces, transport, schools and universities, and secure online spaces against digital abuse.
For Egyptian Women’s Day, the New Woman Foundation, Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance Foundation, Ganoubia Hora, Barah Amen, Edraak, Egyptians without Borders, Ommi Association, Women’s Development Forum and Super Women Initiative submitted a joint report on women in Egypt under the Beijing review being discussed at the UN Commission on the Status of Women.
The report covered six main areas: inclusive development, shared prosperity and decent work; poverty eradication, social protection and services; freedom from violence, stigma and stereotypes; participation, accountability and gender-responsive institutions; peaceful inclusive societies; and environmental conservation, protection and restoration. It added women’s human rights, focusing on legislation and personal status.
The New Woman Foundation argued that the 69th Commission on the Status of Women’s Beijing+30 political declaration demonstrates that periodic non-binding statements cannot address deeply rooted challenges, particularly in the Global South and conflict zones.
It called for enforceable accountability linking commitments to measurable standards; binding implementation tools in international rights frameworks; global gender justice recognizing structural inequalities; legally guaranteed women’s leadership in peace processes; and a stronger UN role in enforcing commitments and sanctioning non-compliant states.
On the girl-child section, the foundation cited Faten’s killing by her husband in Kafr Yaqoub, Gharbia, in August 2024. It exposes sexual exploitation and domestic violence tied to child marriage, poverty and social norms that encourage early marriage. Criminalization focuses on official documentation or customary contracts and primarily the authorized marriage registrar. Parents or guardians are punished where sexual exploitation is established, leaving alternative routes to impunity.
It demanded reporting mechanisms for girls, legislation preventing impunity, stronger efforts against child marriage and domestic violence, and safeguards against family-based violence and sexual exploitation.
The report recommended explicit criminalization of forced child marriage and all participants and inciters; a timed, participatory government–civil-society elimination plan with monitoring and evaluation roles; and awareness and training for educational and cultural staff, ensuring they oppose early marriage before taking influential posts.
It also recommended enforcing female genital mutilation prohibitions, encouraging reports and protecting witnesses, intensifying awareness in villages and border areas, and requiring religious platforms, cultural centres and state media to adopt anti-FGM discourse.
On women, the environment and agricultural workers, recommendations included quotas in climate committees and projects, financial support for women protecting the environment, and legislation recognizing agricultural women as workers with wages and health insurance. Gender-sensitive village police units staffed by female officers and social workers should receive violence and sexual-harassment complaints. Bureaucratic obstacles to agricultural unions should be removed.
On women and media, the report called for press freedom and imprisoned journalists’ release, protection of online women and content creators from pursuit under “family values” claims, and state and state-aligned channels’ attention to women’s real issues and rights. Professional codes of ethics should be enforced.
On criminal justice, it recommended publishing prison regulations and making them available to detainees with information about rights and complaints; serious action to end sexual violence as punishment; prison design, living conditions and healthcare suited to women’s physical and health needs; and improved medical facilities.
Prosecutors should fulfil judicial oversight duties and inspect prisoners’ treatment and conditions. Authorities should respect constitutional freedoms of association, expression, protest and peaceful assembly. Arresting sexual-violence complainants and charging victims and witnesses must end.
It also called for ending prosecutions under cybercrime provisions on “Egyptian family values” and legislative reconsideration of them. The death penalty should be reconsidered as a violation of the right to life, especially for women convicted of killings connected to domestic violence that current legislation makes difficult to prove.
On women in power and decision-making, the report noted that the next parliamentary electoral system had not been officially announced. A combination of absolute lists and individual seats was expected. Individual contests impose high costs, negotiations and male-dominated social environments that marginalize women or confine them to stereotypes.
Absolute winner-takes-all lists exclude other lists even with substantial votes and reinforce major parties, often male-dominated. Quotas guarantee minimum female representation, showing that legal obligation rather than the system ensures access, but do not guarantee effective representation. Dominant parties’ choices can marginalize feminist concerns.
Proportional lists provide fairer opportunities by allocating seats according to vote share, requiring meaningful inclusion rather than merely quota compliance. They offer new political currents, including women-focused groups, real opportunities and enrich legislative debate.
Presidential appointment criteria remain opaque and driven by political balances rather than fair representation. Appointees often come from affluent or political elites and do not challenge the status quo, reducing diversity and raising questions about their connection to ordinary women’s concerns. Many appointments have not produced substantive rights reforms.
Although more women hold ministries, they are usually assigned social services, culture or planning, while foreign affairs, interior, defence, finance and other sovereign portfolios remain male preserves. This reflects traditional views and limited influence over major economic or security decisions.
Female appointments do not necessarily bring feminist agendas; some policies reinforce traditional male discourse. Political calculations restrict access for women expressing fundamental feminist concerns. More democratic selection through proportional lists and fair appointment criteria is essential for effective representation.
Feminist activist Aya Mounir, founder of Super Women, told Zawia3 that the report rereads the whole scene and links details to political and economic conditions. Poverty is feminized in Egypt, with women disproportionately affected. Female breadwinners face housing and subsistence crises, and women in employment lack protection.
On the feminist drama monitor, she criticized Ramadan series’ romanticized or religiously packaged violence and stereotypes linking popular neighbourhoods to thuggery, citing Esh Esh, Sayed El-Nas, El-Atawla and Fahd El-Batal. Yet she praised 80 Bako for unstereotyped stories of women’s struggles, and Ekhwaty and Lam Shamsiya for important gender issues.
The monitor seeks a comprehensible dramatic context for violence and stereotypes, rather than filler aimed at provoking viewers and reinforcing sexism for ratings and trends. Drama is a major cultural component in a society with middling education; it both reflects and shapes reality, and audiences are receptive to its ideas.
International Women’s Day on March 8 and Egyptian Women’s Day on March 16 also highlight female political prisoners and prisoners of conscience. Reports describe continuing violations, ignored release demands and a stalled presidential pardon committee, once a major source of hope, with uncertainty about resumption.
No precise official statistics exist; estimates suggest hundreds or possibly thousands of women imprisoned for political reasons. Their situation lacks clear social or political mobilization, including feminist attention. Reports refer to tens of thousands of political prisoners without specifying women’s share. During 2022 prison expansion, reports circulated of 500 political women transferred from El-Qanater to Wadi El-Natrun, without official details.
Read Zawia3’s report: Women Prisoners of Conscience in Egypt: A Forgotten File on International Women’s Day.
The Bar Aman initiative condemned three rapes of girls in under two weeks being labelled “indecent assault” rather than rape: a child in Tenth of Ramadan, a seven-year-old attacked by an elderly man in Marsa Matrouh, and a street vendor’s sexual assault on his 15-year-old daughter.
Its statement said the legal and media label manipulates language, weakens victims’ rights, reduces penalties and minimizes the crime. Egyptian law recognizes rape only as penile-vaginal penetration; other assaults receive a lesser classification. Media fixation on the hymen, which many girls are born without, ignores victims’ humanity and physical and psychological harm. Rape is coerced sexual assault, including hands, sharp implements or other objects. It called for accurate naming and activation of the unified anti-violence law with clear definitions and protection of dignity.
Barah Amen’s 2024 private-sphere violence report, “Only What We Know about Private-Sphere Violence in Egypt,” recorded 703 crimes across 21 governorates: 312 physical violence, 132 killings, 30 reproductive violence, 239 economic violence and 185 social violence.
More than half occurred in Greater Cairo. Upper Egypt ranked second with 48: 30 in Sohag, ten Qena, five Assiut, one Beni Suef and two Fayoum. The Delta ranked third with 31, while the report listed six in Sharqia, nine Dakahlia, 12 Gharbia, five Kafr El-Sheikh and two Damietta. It recorded five in Beheira, three Alexandria, two Ismailia, one Suez, one North Sinai and two Red Sea. Media blackouts and tribal power left some governorates unrepresented. The figures do not capture all violence, as survivors may fear stigma or further abuse.
Edraak’s Observatory of Violence against Women and Girls documented marked growth over four years: a 96.39% jump from 2020 to 2021, a stated 5.7% decline from 2021 to 2022, a 23.76% rise from 2022 to 2023, and around 25.68% in 2024. The 2024 total was 1,195 reported crimes, compared with 950 in 2023, 1,006 in 2022, 813 in 2021 and 415 in 2020. Its January–December 2024 annual report used officially reported incidents, government and independent press coverage, and public and administrative prosecution statements.
Read Zawia3’s report: Violence against Women Doubles, with Greater Cairo Leading the Map.
