Her blood sugar is 20, and her need for justice cannot be measured
Her blood sugar is 20, and her need for justice cannot be measured
The academic and human rights activist Laila Soueif announced her return to the total hunger strike she began at the end of last September, in protest at the continued imprisonment of her son, political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, despite the legal expiry of his sentence on 28 September 2024.
During the past month, Soueif suffered a serious health setback, as the sugar level in her blood fell to 20 mg/dL – a very low level that requires urgent medical care – according to what her family announced on 30 May.
1. Personal liberty and the health of hunger strikers
What Does It Mean for Laila Soueif’s Blood Sugar to Drop to 20 mg/dL?
The drop in Laila Soueif’s blood sugar level to 20 mg/dL raised serious fears for her life. For comparison, the normal fasting blood sugar level ranges between approximately 70 and 100 mg/dL, and any drop below 70 mg is considered a deficiency in blood sugar (hypoglycaemia) that can cause health disturbances, and when the sugar level falls below 54 mg/dL the condition becomes dangerous and requires immediate medical intervention. Soueif’s blood glucose level reaching 20 mg/dL means that it fell to less than half the minimum safe limit, placing her in a zone of severe danger. At these very low levels, the brain and vital organs are deprived of sufficient energy, and the patient may lose consciousness or suffer seizures and possibly fall into a coma if they do not receive care quickly.
As doctors explain, acute hypoglycaemia immediately affects the body’s neurological and muscular functions; symptoms such as trembling, sweating, a rapid heartbeat and mental confusion begin to appear when sugar falls below normal rates. If the drop continues to critical levels (below ~30 mg/dL, as happened with Soueif), a person may lose the ability to remain conscious and become prone to fainting or seizures. Without rapid treatment to raise the sugar level (through an intravenous glucose solution, for example), the condition may develop into a hypoglycaemic coma or even death.
Despite these categorical medical warnings, Laila Soueif remains determined to continue her strike as long as her son languishes behind bars. Her daughter, the activist Sanaa Seif, says that her mother refuses to receive glucose or artificial nutrition despite the doctors’ advice, holding on to her just demands. Soueif’s family stresses that Laila’s decision stems from her sense of responsibility as a mother and a seeker of justice, as she considers her personal life of little weight compared with the life and freedom of her son. While supporters anxiously watch her deteriorating health, the family hopes that this sacrifice will bear fruit by saving Alaa before Laila pays the highest price.
Laila Soueif began her open-ended hunger strike on 30 September 2024, one day after the end of the prison term of her son, the prominent activist and blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah, who has been sentenced to five years in prison since 2019 on a charge of “spreading false news”. According to the family, Alaa should have been released on 29 September 2024, but the Egyptian authorities refused to release him, on the grounds that the sentence is calculated from the date of the final verdict and not from the day of his arrest, which means he would remain in prison until 3 January 2027.
In an earlier comment, Soueif told Zawia3 that she decided to go on strike because Alaa “has completed his legal term of imprisonment, but they do not want to release him, nor even to give us any clear legal explanation.”
Despite her deteriorating health, Soueif travelled from London to Cairo this May to visit her son in prison, and through the family’s lawyer she submitted two requests to the Public Prosecution for his release, based on the expiry of the legal term of the sentence. But the prosecution held to its previous assessment and closed the door of hope on the family.
It is worth noting that Alaa Abdel Fattah began a hunger strike last March inside his prison in Wadi El-Natrun, after learning of the deterioration of his mother’s health and her hospitalisation because of her strike.
Denied His Exams, Mohamed Adel Is Driven to a New Strike
Mohamed Adel, the former spokesperson of the 6 April Movement, has been on hunger strike since the beginning of May, in protest at being barred from sitting the second-semester exams of the Public Law Diploma at the Faculty of Law – Mansoura University, according to his wife.
The administration of Gamasa Prison had previously refused to allow him to sit the first-semester exams, which drove him to strike at the time, before he was transferred to the 10th of Ramadan Prison, where his conditions improved.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) submitted a complaint to the Public Prosecutor (No. 35490) demanding an investigation into the deprivation of his right to education, and it also sent an official warning to the Ministry of Interior and the Prisons Authority on the need to enable him to sit his exams scheduled between 17 May and 4 June 2025, but the requests were rejected.
His lawyer filed an appeal before the Administrative Judiciary Court (No. 50165 of judicial year 79) seeking a halt to the negative decision, but the court decided to postpone consideration to the session of 1 June, that is, after the exam period had ended.
Tantawi Released
The Egyptian authorities released former Egyptian presidential candidate Ahmed Tantawi on Wednesday, after he served a one-year prison sentence in the “popular endorsements” case related to his candidacy in the 2023 presidential election, but he still faces two new cases related to incitement to terrorism and incitement to assembly, while rights advocate Khaled Ali confirmed on the evening of Wednesday 28 May that Ahmed Tantawi had been released and is at his home in Kafr El-Sheikh, while lawyer Mohamed Abu El-Diyar will be released on 4 June 2025.
The human rights lawyer had announced, in a post on his personal page on the social networking site “Facebook”, that Tantawi underwent new investigations during his imprisonment, as he was summoned on 26 April 2025 for questioning in two new cases before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, namely case No. 2468 of 2023 and case No. 2635 of 2023. The charges against him in these two cases relate to incitement to commit a terrorist act using force and violence, and incitement to assembly, over his calls to demonstrate twice during October 2023 in solidarity with the Palestinian people and against the Israeli occupation. The human rights lawyer stated that the investigations in the two cases ended with a decision by the Supreme State Security Prosecution to release Tantawi pending them, without issuing a decision to place him in pretrial detention.
During April, dozens of individuals, public figures and representatives of human rights organisations and political movements signed a petition launched by the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, demanding the immediate release of the former parliamentarian and politician Ahmed Tantawi and his campaign manager Mohamed Abu El-Diyar upon the expiry of the sentences handed down to them in the “popular endorsements” case.
Rights Organisations Demand the Release of Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh’s Son
A group of human rights organisations expressed deep concern over the start of the trial of Ahmed Aboul Fotouh, son of Dr Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, head of the Strong Egypt Party, which opened today, Sunday 27 April, before the exceptional Emergency State Security Criminal Court. The authorities accuse Ahmed Aboul Fotouh of publishing information about the violations his father is subjected to in his place of detention.
The organisations particularly condemned Ahmed’s trial before the emergency court, which has issued harsh sentences against political opponents, journalists and human rights defenders, describing it as lacking the minimum guarantees of a fair trial and demanding that all charges against him be dropped.
Security forces arrested Ahmed Aboul Fotouh on 16 April while he was renewing his driving licence at the Qattamiya traffic unit, in execution of an in absentia sentence of 15 years in prison issued against him in May 2022 over charges of joining a terrorist group, the same sentence handed down to his father Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, his deputy Mohamed El-Kassas, and activist Moaz El-Sharqawi.
The organisations point out that the exceptional Emergency State Security Court that issued these unlawful sentences does not allow its decisions to be appealed, and that its practices have become codified under the new Code of Criminal Procedure recently approved by parliament.
The organisations demand the immediate release of Ahmed Aboul Fotouh and the dropping of all charges against him, along with the release of Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh, his deputy Mohamed El-Kassas, activist Moaz El-Sharqawi and all political and human rights prisoners of opinion, and an end to the retaliatory security prosecutions targeting them. They also call for an end to the policy of “recycling”, which the authorities exploit to prolong arbitrary detention, and an end to the use of terrorism cases as a tool for settling political scores under legal cover.
Student Leader Moaz El-Sharqawi Faces the Risk of Life Imprisonment
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights expressed its condemnation of what it described as the “continuous judicial targeting” of former student leader Moaz El-Sharqawi, 31, who was arrested for the second time two years ago and is currently on trial in three simultaneous cases, all of which include the same charge of “joining the terrorist Muslim Brotherhood group”.
The Initiative pointed out in its statement that referring El-Sharqawi to trial in more than one case on the same charge “constitutes a flagrant violation of the provisions of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which prohibit trying any person for the same facts or charges more than once”, considering this a clear threat to justice.
Despite the seriousness of the charges, which could lead to sentences that together amount to life imprisonment, no official investigations have been opened into El-Sharqawi’s statements before the prosecution regarding the grave violations he suffered, according to the Initiative, which also stressed that the complaints filed by his family and his lawyers about the incidents of his enforced disappearance and torture, repeated since 2017, remain uninvestigated. It stressed that El-Sharqawi’s continued detention pending cases in which the same charges are brought again “reflects a pattern of political prosecution through legal tools”, calling for respect for fair trial guarantees and an investigation into the violations he suffered.
El-Sharqawi is considered one of the most prominent student activists of his time as a student at Al-Azhar University; he was previously arrested in 2018 and held for a long period without trial before he was later released.
2. Press freedom, expression and human rights defenders
Rasha Qandeel Released
The Supreme State Security Prosecution decided, on the evening of Sunday 25 May, to release journalist and broadcaster Rasha Qandeel on bail of EGP 50,000, pending investigations in case No. 4196 of 2025 State Security, according to human rights lawyer Khaled Ali via his account on Facebook.
The prosecution had heard Qandeel’s statements over eight consecutive hours, during which she was charged with “broadcasting rumours, data and false news inside and outside the country”, on the basis of complaints filed by 31 citizens from various governorates and professions during the past week.
The charges included press articles by journalist Qandeel, among them an article entitled “Is Egypt on the Brink of an Explosion?”, and the investigations also relied on National Security inquiries that attributed to her the commission of the crime under investigation.
Journalist Mohamed Saad Khattab Remains in Detention
The First Circuit of the Criminal Court decided, at its recent session, to renew the detention of journalist Mohamed Saad Khattab for 45 days pending investigations in various cases.
Journalist Mohamed Saad Khattab is being held in case No. 2063 of 2023 Supreme State Security, in which he faces charges including “spreading false news”, “joining a terrorist group” and “misusing social media”.
Khattab is 71 years old and suffers from a severe deterioration in his health, having previously undergone surgery on his neck and back. He also suffers from coronary artery insufficiency and relies on four stents, in addition to chronic high blood pressure and diabetes. On 7 November 2023, he requested to be referred to a medical committee (commission) to assess his health officially, but no decision has been made on the request to date. Mohamed Saad Khattab was arrested on 19 August 2023 at his office in Nasr City, and he remains in pretrial detention to this day.
Rights Defender Mohamed Abdel Salam Detained
At dawn on Tuesday 20 May, National Security officers at Cairo International Airport stopped Mohamed Abdel Salam, the executive director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, on his return from the German capital, Berlin, and he underwent a security interrogation that lasted several hours before he was released.
In a statement to Zawia3, Abdel Salam says he was subjected to a series of the usual questions about his work and travel, even though his organisation is legally registered with the Ministry of Social Solidarity and faces no declared charges. He explains that since 2012 he had grown used to undergoing strict security procedures linked to his inclusion on watch-on-arrival lists, which continued until 2023.
He points out that he told the officers he had been on a personal holiday and had not met any German government bodies or political organisations, stressing that the organisation does not deal with any foreign governmental parties. He adds that one of the officers asked him to hand over his mobile phone and told him plainly: “Consider that we are in a new phase.”
Although he received his passport the following day without obstruction, Abdel Salam believes that what happened should be understood within a wider context of “political messages directed at those working in the human rights field”, which may be linked to sensitive political or regional moments.
He mentions that after the incident he contacted a number of bodies, including the National Council for Human Rights and members of the House of Representatives, in an attempt to understand the background to the detention, noting that the security treatment later changed suddenly, as he was treated with full respect, without any charges being brought.
Although the incident ended without escalation, Abdel Salam considers that what happened reflects the continuing undeclared restrictions on those working in civil society and an attempt to shrink the space for independent human rights work. He concludes: “What happened is not a personal threat, but part of an environment of restriction that must be confronted by speaking publicly and defending the right to movement and to independent work.”
This incident comes within a wider context of security pressure faced by human rights defenders in Egypt, amid repeated demands to guarantee freedom of movement and to stop the practices that obstruct the work of civil society organisations.
In Absentia Ruling Against Hisham Kassem
On 14 May 2025, the Cairo Economic Misdemeanours Court issued an in absentia ruling against publisher and political opponent Hisham Kassem, sentencing him to six months in prison with labour and a fine of EGP 20,000 on charges of insult, defamation and disturbance, in a case brought against him by former Minister of Manpower and Immigration Nahed Ashry.
This ruling comes after Kassem was convicted in September 2023 in a case connected to the same post, in which he criticised former ministers Kamal Abu Eita and Nahed Ashry, and he has already served a six-month prison term following a trial that drew wide criticism from rights groups because of the violations that marred his right to a defence and a fair trial, in addition to his lawyers being denied access to the case file and journalists and diplomats being barred from attending the sessions. Kassem protested at the time with a hunger strike that lasted 20 days.
For their part, human rights organisations condemned the ruling and considered it an extension of the policy of repressing the opposition and silencing voices, denouncing the use of the vague “insult and defamation” and “disturbance” laws as tools to suppress freedom of expression, especially in light of Kassem’s continuing criticism of the army’s intervention in the economy and the political regime’s domination of the scene, which reflects worsening corruption and the absence of accountability.
Journalists Syndicate Launches a Campaign Against Article 12 of the Press and Media Regulation Law
Khaled El-Balshy, head of the Journalists Syndicate, launched a broad campaign to amend Article (12) of Law No. 180 of 2018 on the Regulation of the Press and Media, which requires journalists to obtain prior security permits for coverage or filming in public places, something he considered a fundamental obstacle to the freedom of journalistic work.
The controversial article states that a journalist or media professional has “the right to attend conferences, sessions and public meetings, to conduct interviews with citizens, and to film in public places where filming is not prohibited, after obtaining the necessary permits in cases that require this”, the wording that the campaign seeks to abolish, specifically its last sentence, which burdens journalistic work with discretionary restrictions.
El-Balshy said the Syndicate chose to focus for now on amending this article only, although other articles in the law require amendment, given the short time remaining in the current session of parliament, stressing that the goal is “to restore the press card as the only legal permit that allows a journalist to practise their work freely”. According to the head of the Syndicate’s statements, the campaign aims to exert pressure through syndicate, legal and professional tools, including addressing the Culture and Media Committee of the House of Representatives, organising meetings with representatives of parliamentary blocs, and launching an awareness campaign inside press institutions.
3. The right to life and fair trial guarantees
Organisations Condemn Extrajudicial Killing
A number of human rights organisations expressed their full solidarity with the people of Marsa Matrouh Governorate, following the killing of two young men during a police pursuit of a wanted fugitive, according to consistent and corroborating testimonies from relatives, witnesses and local sources.
In their statement, the organisations stressed that these security practices constitute crimes of extrajudicial execution and are consistent with similar incidents documented by human rights organisations, in which the authorities often justify these violations on the pretext of an exchange of fire or counter-terrorism, amid continued impunity.
The organisations called on the Public Prosecutor to open an urgent, transparent and impartial investigation into the killing of the two young men, as well as into the incidents involving the arbitrary detention of dozens of women. They warned that ignoring the accountability of those responsible for these violations in Marsa Matrouh Governorate reinforces a culture of impunity among security personnel and opens the door to the repetition of such violations, which threaten social stability in a community whose family and tribal bonds are strong.
The details of the incident go back to Wednesday 9 April 2025, when the town of El-Negaila witnessed an exchange of fire between police forces and a wanted fugitive, during an attempt to arrest him to enforce a life sentence issued against him in a drug-trafficking case, which resulted in the killing of three policemen and the escape of the wanted men.
Thousands of Referrals to “Terrorism Circuits” Raise Rights Concerns over the Undermining of Justice
Human rights organisations expressed grave concern over the escalating pace of referrals to “terrorism circuits” during the past eight months, after the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred at least 186 cases involving more than 6,000 defendants to these circuits, according to a joint statement issued at the beginning of May.
The organisations explained that this unprecedented expansion of referrals is a political manoeuvre to circumvent growing UN demands to stop the arbitrary use of pretrial detention and to release those detained in cases of a political nature, stressing that the ongoing trials before the terrorism circuits lack the minimum guarantees of a fair trial, entrench a general climate of impunity and empty justice of its substance. At the end of the statement, the organisations called on the Egyptian authorities to take five basic steps to ensure that justice is achieved.
4. Legislation, political participation and freedom of belief
Parliament Gives Final Approval to the Fatwa Regulation Law Despite Objections
The Egyptian House of Representatives gave final approval to the government’s bill regulating religious fatwas, after introducing amendments that responded to the comments of Al-Azhar, while parliament rejected a proposal to abolish the prison penalty contained in Article Eight of the law, despite the objections of the head of the Journalists Syndicate and human rights organisations.
The head of the Journalists Syndicate, Khaled El-Balshy, had called in an official letter to the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Counsellor Dr Hanafy Gebaly, for the deletion of Article (8) of the bill, which provides for punishing anyone who violates the provisions on publishing or broadcasting religious fatwas with imprisonment of up to six months and a fine of no less than EGP 50,000 and no more than EGP 100,000, or either of these two penalties. El-Balshy considered that this article constitutes “a flagrant violation of Article 71 of the Egyptian Constitution, which prohibits imprisonment in publishing cases, and of Article 29 of the Press and Media Regulation Law No. 180 of 2018”.
For its part, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights criticised the approval of the bill, considering that it grants additional powers to the official religious institutions and undermines fundamental freedoms. The Initiative said in a statement issued yesterday that the law “violates freedom of opinion, expression and belief, and entrenches the official religious institutions’ monopoly over religious discourse”.
The Initiative called on the President of the Republic not to ratify the law and to return it to parliament to review its articles and discuss its impact on public freedoms and the public sphere in Egypt.
Calls for Comprehensive Reform of the Elections Law
Egyptian political parties and human rights organisations called for a reconsideration of the new parliamentary elections law recently approved by parliament, considering that it reproduces a monolithic political scene and undermines the chances of pluralism by combining the absolute closed-list system with the individual-candidacy system, without responding to the opposition forces’ demands to adopt the proportional list system, which allows fairer and more open representation of the various political forces.
In this context, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights published a research paper in which it called for radical amendments to the electoral law, with the aim of achieving genuine political representation that reflects the balance of power in the Egyptian street and restores citizens’ trust in public work, particularly in light of what it described as “the escalation of confrontational social, economic and legislative policies” that the country has witnessed since 2015.
The Front stressed that the current electoral system entrenches the exclusion of opposition parties and currents and prevents the existence of a parliament that reflects the popular will or exercises a genuine oversight and legislative role, calling for a move to a system of proportional representation by lists, a gradual reduction of the individual-candidacy system leading to its abolition, and the opportunity for independent lists to take part in elections alongside party lists. The Front also called for clearly separating the individual seats from the parties, so that competition for them is limited to independents only, to guarantee equal opportunities given the large disparities in resources and support.
5. Housing, property and protection from eviction
Demolition Orders Without Official Notice
In the East and West Omraniya districts of Giza Governorate, residents face the spectre of demolition orders threatening the homes they have lived in for decades. In the absence of housing alternatives and fair compensation, residents’ fears of forced displacement are mounting, prompting them to send an urgent appeal to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi, asking him to intervene to halt the demolitions and to guarantee solutions that preserve their right to stay or provide housing alternatives befitting their human dignity.
The appeals for help came after technical committees began counting and numbering an estimated 200 properties in preparation for demolition, in an area stretching from the Mahmoudiya and Zahraa towers to the Middle Ring Road, as part of the preparatory works for implementing new phases of the Kamal Amer Axis extension project. Some residents were informed verbally that they may have to leave their homes in the coming weeks, without receiving official notice, which caused concern among residents, especially in the absence of any announcement of plans for compensation or the provision of housing alternatives, despite the difficult economic conditions they live in and their complete dependence on these homes as a source of stability and shelter.
“Al-Waqa’i Al-Misriya” had published, in its issue No. 241 of 31 October 2024, Decision No. 1102 of 2024 of the Ministry of Housing, Utilities and Urban Communities on the expropriation of a number of plots of land in Giza Governorate for the implementation of the axis extension, formerly known as the “Zomor Canal Axis”. The decision was based on the Constitution, Local Administration Law No. 43 of 1979 and Law No. 10 of 1990 on the Expropriation of Real Estate for Public Benefit, as well as Presidential Decree No. 279 of 2018, which delegated some powers to the Prime Minister.
For a detailed report published by Zawia3 on the residents’ suffering: Omraniya Residents Face Demolition Orders Without Official Notice or Housing Alternatives
What Lies Behind the Demolitions in Al-Fardous Village in Port Said
At the same time, Port Said Governorate is carrying out a demolition campaign in Al-Fardous village despite the existence of legal contracts and final court rulings confirming the residents’ ownership, without notice or compensation, which raises wide constitutional and legal questions.
Al-Fardous village lies on the Mediterranean coast, about 5 kilometres from the centre of the city of Port Said, and comprises more than 1,200 chalets, used for both seasonal stays and permanent residence.
In an investigation entitled: “Usufruct Rights Crushed by Bulldozers: What Lies Behind the Demolitions in Al-Fardous Village in Port Said“, Zawia3 contacted seven residents of Al-Fardous village, all of whom reported that their housing units had suffered serious damage and that their belongings had been confiscated without prior warning or official explanation. El-Araby Allam was not the only one harmed; the damage extended to other units, and during the operation the forces confiscated cars, equipment, microbuses and private vehicles owned by residents, in addition to belongings from locked chalets during the demolition, without notifying their owners, who were outside Port Said.
Zawia3 also reviewed a number of receipts and documents confirming that the residents had paid all the required dues in full, whether to Port Said Governorate or to the public utilities linked to electricity and water services.
What happened in Al-Fardous village cannot be isolated from a recurring urban pattern that Egypt has witnessed over the past decade, consisting of the removal of existing residential communities under the banner of “development” without fair guarantees or genuine community participation.
From the Maspero Triangle to Warraq Island, and from Nazlet El-Semman to Manshiyet Nasser, the incidents have recurred: investment expansion in areas of high real estate value, met by sudden or forced eviction that lacks transparency and is devoid of negotiation, with compensation varying greatly compared with market value. In Maspero, for example, thousands of families were evicted in exchange for limited compensation or alternative units in Al-Asmarat, despite objections to the poor quality of the alternatives.
In Warraq, home to about 100,000 people, residents were offered EGP 1,400 per metre against a market price of nearly EGP 8,000, and the evictions were accompanied by clashes in which one person was killed. In Nazlet El-Semman, compensation was offered later, after protests and arrests, amid accusations that residents had been excluded from shaping the future of their area.
In Manshiyet Nasser, “unsafe” classifications were used to justify eviction, without clear solutions. In this context, the crisis of Al-Fardous village appears to be an extension of this pattern, which puts the logic of administrative decisions and real estate expansion above the constitutional rights to housing and excludes residents from their right to negotiate, raising wide questions about the limits of development and the limits of justice.
In a related context, an official decision to refer cases of illegal construction and urban encroachments to the military judiciary has stirred controversy, amid assertions by legal experts that it constitutes a violation of the provisions of the Constitution that confine the trial of civilians to their natural judge.
On the other hand, executive bodies affirm that the decision aims to confront repeated encroachments on state land during periods of weak oversight, while organisations and parties warn of the repercussions of expanding the use of exceptional judiciary in civil cases.
For a report published by Zawia3 entitled: Illegal Construction Is Drawn into the Vortex of Military Courts
Do 6 Million Citizens Face the Risk of Eviction?
Amid the escalating controversy over the amendments to the old rent law, opinions differ between those demanding that landlords’ rights be restored and those who fear that these amendments will harm millions of tenants, especially those who have no alternative. While many landlords see the current law as no longer fair because of the freezing of rental values over many years, as they put it, tenants such as Nagwa warn that any amendment that does not take into account the conditions of the most vulnerable groups could turn into a direct threat to social stability.
The Egyptian House of Representatives is currently discussing the new bill after the government finished preparing its main draft and submitted it to parliament, which referred it to the Housing Committee for discussion within the chamber. Sharp divisions have arisen among MPs over some of the law’s provisions, with some considering them illogical and lacking a social and humanitarian dimension.
In an investigation entitled: “Do 6 Million Citizens Face the Risk of Eviction? The Other Face of the Old Rent Law Amendments“, Zawia3 contacted more than 20 male and female citizens, landlords and tenants, in addition to experts and officials, in an attempt to capture the different opinions and trends and to understand the reasons and motives behind the positions of each party to the dispute.
6. Work and social protection
66% of Egyptians Live Below the Poverty Line
The World Bank announced that the proportion of Egyptians living below the internationally adopted poverty line has exceeded 66%, that is, nearly 70 million people. This reflects the continuing deterioration of living conditions and threatens further economic and social crises in the near future.
According to the report issued in May 2025, it is estimated that about 66.2% of Egypt’s population live below the global poverty line, which is set at $6.85 per person per day, equivalent to about EGP 10,000 per month. This figure indicates a notable increase compared with previous estimates, which indicated that 60% of Egyptians were living below this line four years ago.
It is worth noting that these estimates are based on the updated global poverty line announced by the World Bank in September 2022, which is set at $6.85 per person per day in upper-middle-income countries such as Egypt.
By contrast, official data issued by the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics (CAPMAS) in Egypt indicate that the national poverty line is set at EGP 10,279 per person per year, equivalent to about EGP 856 per month. This disparity between the global and national poverty lines highlights the gap in estimating poverty levels and raises questions about how accurate and realistic these figures are.
Workers’ Rights
In May 2025, the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights obtained a court ruling from Labour Circuit 40 of the North Cairo Court of First Instance reinstating a trade unionist at the “Hassan Allam” company to his job and paying his dues, after he had been imprisoned and suspended from work for 5 years on a charge of “demanding his dues”.
Workers at the Al-Shorbagy company return after the arbitrary decisions against 18 of them are halted, with promises to meet their demands
In a new positive development in the crisis of the workers of the Al-Nasr Spinning, Weaving and Knitting Company, “Al-Shorbagy”, all the workers returned to their workplaces after being informed of the cancellation of the arbitrary decisions against 18 of them, including the decision to dismiss the two female workers Magda Gouda and Doaa Sayed Ahmed, with the decision to reinstate them awaiting implementation in the coming days.
This development came as a result of the intervention of MP Nashwa El-Deeb, who informed the workers of the results of her meeting with the company’s managing director, Ahmed Shaker, which resulted in an administrative directive cancelling all punitive measures against 18 workers who took part in the recent protests.
Mostafa Arafa, head of the trade union committee, confirmed that the workers returned to their workplaces today, Thursday 8 May 2025, stressing that the return took place on the basis of understanding, not a retreat from their demands.
Despite this relative breakthrough, the crisis persists, as the workers insist on Saturday being considered an official paid day off as it was previously, and reject the administration’s decision to treat it as a working day. They also face continuing low wages and the irregular payment of salaries, as the April salary was delayed until the beginning of May, although the usual date is the 26th of each month. The trade union committee also remains frozen, which obstructs its role in defending workers’ rights.
The roots of the crisis go back to a strike the workers began on 29 April 2025 in protest at the deterioration of their living conditions, the disparity in salaries compared with their colleagues at the Misr Helwan complex, which belongs to the same holding company, and the continuation of temporary contracts for years without permanent appointment. The administration responded at the time with arbitrary measures that included the dismissal of two female workers, the transfer of two others, and depriving the rest of the participants of incentives for six months.
7. Health and medical workers’ rights
Rising Deaths Among Young Doctors
Amid the discussion of the conditions of doctors in Egypt, the sixth issue of Lotus magazine, an irregular publication issued by the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, warned of the increase in deaths among young doctors, considering it a phenomenon that deserves study and a scientific examination of its causes, and showing that recent months have witnessed the sudden deaths of dozens of young doctors and nurses, amid continuing demands to improve the conditions of those working in the health system and to put an end to extended working hours. This comes amid the continuing emigration of doctors to work abroad, crises over assignment and complaints of a shortage of doctors in several specialties in many hospitals.
Last April, a number of patients, among them Michael and Hany, submitted complaints and appeals for help to international and local bodies, accusing Ghada Waly, executive director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime and former Egyptian minister of social solidarity, of misleading the international community about the reality of the methadone programme in Egypt.
According to what was documented in the complaints, copies of which Zawia3 obtained, Waly spoke at the 68th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs, held in Vienna on 14 March 2025, about “the success of the methadone experience in Egypt”, only two weeks before the dispensing of the drug was suddenly stopped, without warning or alternatives. The patients tell Zawia3, in a report entitled: “The Collapse of Addiction Treatment in Egypt: The Methadone Crisis Exposes Flaws in Harm Reduction Units“, that her statements ignored the appeals for help and the complaints that had already been received before the date of the session.
In an individual complaint submitted to the UN Ethics Office by one of those enrolled in the programme, he explained that his life, and the lives of other patients, had been put at risk because of the unsafe suspension of the methadone programme without medical supervision, even though it is officially run in cooperation with the UN Office on Drugs, and the complaint pointed out that this decision led to acute withdrawal symptoms, psychological trauma and an increased risk of death.
The complaint described what happened as possibly amounting to “misconduct, negligence or abuse of authority”, calling for an independent UN investigation into the incident and considering that Ghada Waly’s public statements and her direct responsibility for the programme may place her in a position of accountability.
In the same context, Zawia3 obtained a copy of a formal collective complaint sent on 27 April to four bodies: the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), the World Health Organization’s regional office for the Eastern Mediterranean, and the National Council for Human Rights in Egypt. The complaint bore a clear title: “The sudden termination of the methadone treatment programme in Egypt violates human rights”.
The complaint said: “We, the patients, families and advocates affected by the methadone treatment programme, submit this urgent complaint against the Egyptian Ministry of Health over the sudden termination of the programme and the forced reduction of doses, surprise tests and arbitrary dismissal of patients that followed, in the absence of any medical or legal justification. These practices violate Egyptian law, international human rights standards and the ethics of the medical profession.”
The document added that what happened represents a glaring contradiction: after Egypt presented the programme at the Vienna conference as a successful experience, government hospitals, such as Abbasiya Hospital, began reducing doses without prior notice or individual medical assessment. Patients were also subjected to unannounced drug tests, and those whose results were positive were dismissed, even though some results may have been caused by acute withdrawal symptoms.
The complaint considered that this contradiction between official discourse and actual practice may reflect unprofessional or politically motivated decisions that require an urgent investigation at the international level.
8. Women’s rights, reproductive justice and access to courts
A Historic Recommendation on the Right to Reproductive Justice
The State Commissioners Authority at the Administrative Judiciary Court recommended, in a precedent that is the first of its kind, that a female citizen is entitled to obtain samples and tests from her husband, who has been sentenced to 15 years’ aggravated imprisonment and is held at the Minya Correction and Rehabilitation Centre, in order to undergo an ICSI procedure at her own expense; in its report on case No. 41283 of judicial year 79, issued in April 2025, the Authority stressed that the Egyptian Constitution stipulates that the family is the basis of society and that the role of the state is to ensure its cohesion and stability and to consolidate its values, that there is no crime and no punishment except on the basis of a law, that no penalty may be imposed except by judicial order, and that there is no punishment except for acts committed after the law comes into force.
The Authority relied on previous rulings of the Supreme Administrative Court and the Supreme Constitutional Court holding that the personal freedom of the citizen ranks at the highest level of the rights guaranteed by the Constitution as a natural right, including the right to marry and what derives from it, the right to form a family and raise its members, which means that an imprisoned citizen or one whose freedom is restricted must be treated in a manner that preserves human dignity. It cited the case of Kirk Dickson, a prisoner serving a life sentence for murder, who, together with his wife Lorraine Dickson, applied to the British authorities to allow them access to artificial insemination services in order to have a child, which the authorities refused; however, the Grand Chamber of the European Court of Human Rights ruled at the time that the British authorities’ refusal to allow access to artificial insemination services constituted a violation of Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights and the office of lawyer Ehab El-Garhy had filed a lawsuit before the Administrative Judiciary Court in Cairo against the Minister of Interior, the Assistant Minister for Human Rights and the director of the Community Protection Sector in Minya Governorate, in their official capacities, on behalf of a female citizen, demanding the annulment of the administrative body’s negative decision refusing to allow her to obtain samples and tests from her husband, who has been sentenced to 15 years’ aggravated imprisonment, in order to undergo an ICSI procedure at her own expense.
The lawsuit explained that the plaintiff – who is from Fayoum Governorate – has been married to a prisoner since 2014, and the two shared a good married life, but they faced the challenges of delayed childbearing. After several attempts, the plaintiff underwent a successful ICSI procedure that resulted in a pregnancy with triplets, but the arrest of her husband in January 2015 and his detention pending various cases, before a 15-year prison sentence was issued in 2022, led to her losing her pregnancy as a result of severe psychological pressure, which shattered their dream of parenthood.
According to the lawsuit, the wife suffers from declining chances of childbearing because of her advancing age, as she is now 36 years old, and her health condition does not allow her to conceive naturally; in addition, she will not be reunited with her husband before 2037, the date on which his sentence ends, which makes ICSI her only option to fulfil her dream of motherhood.
The plaintiff had submitted a request to the Minister of Interior and his aides to allow her and her husband to undergo the ICSI procedure, noting that she would bear all the costs and that the procedure does not constitute any legal violation, but the competent authorities refrained from responding to her request.
Commenting on the recommendation, human rights lawyer Malek Adly, director of the Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights, tells Zawia3:
“This recommendation is welcome for us and deserves praise, particularly as reproductive justice was not provided for in the Constitution and the law, since it came about through the scientific progress that made it possible to have children through ICSI, instead of the idea of “conjugal visits”. We are awaiting the court’s ruling on the lawsuit we filed, and we hope the recommendation of the Commissioners Authority will be adopted, as it holds that nothing in Egyptian law and the Constitution prevents the woman from undergoing ICSI and having a child with her husband, a political prisoner in a protest case, who is serving a 15-year prison sentence.”
He adds: “This case is an opportunity for the state to look at the humanitarian side of the suffering of the families of political prisoners who have been deprived of their right to have children and form a family because of their long sentences, merely for belonging to different political currents or embracing different political ideas.”
Rising Court Fees Increase the Vulnerability of Women
Institutions concerned with women’s rights and feminist movements, most prominently the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, the New Woman Foundation, the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law and the Egyptian Women Lawyers Initiative for Women’s Rights, denounced the increase in litigation fees in Egypt, considering that it increases the vulnerability of women’s situations, multiplies the burdens placed on them and limits their ability to access judicial justice.
In its statement, the New Woman Foundation revealed that since 2016 the Egyptian government has embarked on implementing its project to automate the justice system, as part of a general trend towards digital transformation, and that although it is promoted as a means of facilitating access to justice and speeding up litigation, also within the “prompt justice strategy” announced by the Ministry of Justice, the following years witnessed continuous increases in court fees, which took an unprecedented upward trajectory, reaching in some cases more than ten times the original fees.
The Foundation considered that these decisions on increases were issued without a transparent legislative review and in the absence of social impact assessment studies, bypassing society’s right to access information and to discuss it, and consequently these increases were not accompanied by any tangible development in the guarantees of access to justice; rather, they became an actual tool of exclusion for marginalised groups, foremost among them women, which calls into question their constitutionality and their consistency with Egypt’s international obligations to guarantee actual and equal access to the avenues of justice.
New Woman showed, in its report, that the rise in court fees in cases of violence and personal status between 2019 and 2025 constitutes an increasing obstacle to women’s access to justice, especially women from vulnerable and poor groups; although the fees vary between direct and indirect ones, the overall cost of litigation has risen markedly, particularly after the application of the digitisation system, which multiplied the burdens on women, whether because of the high cost of automated services or because of the instability of fees and their variation from one court to another according to geographic jurisdiction, noting that this variation makes justice a service linked not only to economic ability but also to geographic location, which deepens the gap and increases discrimination.
Meanwhile, the “Justice Is the Right of Every Woman” campaign, launched by the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance and the Egyptian Women Lawyers Initiative to Support Women’s Rights, condemned the Cairo Court of Appeal’s decision to increase court fees by 10% because of its direct impact on women, especially those suffering from difficult economic and social conditions, explaining that while the decision applies to all litigants, women, specifically in personal status cases such as alimony, custody and divorce, are the most affected, and many may find themselves unable to bear these costs, which threatens their basic rights and entrenches a reality of indirect discrimination in access to justice.
The campaign said in its statement that although the Egyptian Constitution stipulates in Article (97) that “litigation is a protected right guaranteed to all”, affirms in Article (9) the achievement of equal opportunities among citizens without discrimination, while Article (11) obliges the state to protect women against all forms of violence and to guarantee their full empowerment in various fields, and Article 3 of Law No. 1 of 2000 likewise provides that “alimony cases and similar cases concerning wages and expenses of all kinds are exempt from all court fees at all stages of litigation”, many fees have been imposed on all documents during the stages of litigation in personal status cases, all of them based on decisions with no clear legal basis.
The statement pointed out that in rural and remote communities, where legal knowledge is limited and judicial services are weak, this increase becomes an additional burden that prevents women from resorting to the courts and multiplies their suffering in facing cases of violence or family disputes, considering that imposing additional fees without taking economic and social disparities into account threatens further marginalisation of women and restricts their constitutionally guaranteed right to litigation, and calling on the Bar Association and the relevant judicial bodies to respond urgently to the decision and to open a serious dialogue with the Ministry of Justice to establish mechanisms of exemption or support for women from vulnerable groups, in order to preserve the principle of justice and equality before the law, so that the judiciary does not turn into a right conditional on financial ability.
For her part, Entessar El-Saeed, chair of the board of trustees of the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law, stresses that the increase in litigation fees represents a major challenge for women, especially in cases related to personal status and domestic violence, as many of them suffer from fragile economic conditions that prevent them from bearing the costs of legal procedures, noting that this rise in fees not only affects women’s chances of obtaining their rights, but also entrenches a real gap between the legal texts that guarantee justice for all and a reality that makes access to this justice dependent on financial ability.
She tells Zawia3:
“In the absence of gender-sensitive policies, justice becomes a privilege, not a right, and many women find themselves forced to choose between submitting to injustice or entering a costly legal battle whose tools they may not possess, which entrenches a reality of discrimination and exclusion within the justice system.”
She stresses that this step constitutes an additional obstacle for women, especially marginalised women and survivors of violence, in gaining access to their legal and human rights, and that imposing fees on procedures such as obtaining a copy of a ruling or submitting a judicial application means that many women, who already suffer from economic and social pressures, will hesitate or be deprived of resorting to the judiciary. These procedures entrench inequality and deprive women of the tools of redress and empowerment.
She adds: “Justice is not a commodity to be bought, but an inherent right that the state is obliged to provide without discrimination or financial barriers. We recall that free access to justice services is a constitutional and humanitarian principle, guaranteed by the international conventions the state has signed, foremost among them the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. We reject the commodification of justice and demand a halt to any measure that entrenches class or gender discrimination in access to the judiciary.”
9. Refugee rights and social protection
Reduced UNHCR Support Threatens Refugee Families
A few days ago, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt announced a reduction in the number of families benefiting from its monthly financial assistance, starting this month, in a step that reflects the depth of the financial crisis facing the UN organisation.
UNHCR explained that support will be allocated only to the most needy cases, pointing to unprecedented funding challenges that have affected its ability to meet the basic needs of tens of thousands of refugees in Egypt. It added that the families to be excluded from the assistance programme will receive a text message on their phone numbers registered with UNHCR, calling for those numbers to be updated through the hotline or through the reception centres or partner organisations. It also pointed out that all economic vulnerability assessment interviews are currently suspended.
As of the end of March 2025, the number of refugees and asylum seekers registered with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Egypt reached about 942,000 people, representing more than 60 different nationalities, with Sudanese at the top of the list, followed by Syrian, Eritrean, Ethiopian, South Sudanese, Somali, Yemeni and Iraqi nationals. Most of these refugees live in urban areas such as Greater Cairo and Alexandria, where the majority depend on humanitarian assistance because of economic challenges and the difficulty of accessing the formal labour market.
The United Nations defines a refugee as a person who has been forced to leave their country because of circumstances such as war, violence or persecution and who is unable to return or fears doing so, and the 1951 UN Refugee Convention defines a refugee as “a person who resides outside their country of origin or habitual residence owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, and is unable or unwilling to avail themselves of the protection of that country or to return to it owing to this fear”.
Commenting on the decision, Christine Beshay, the official spokesperson for UNHCR in Egypt, tells Zawia3 in an exclusive statement: “UNHCR is going through a funding crisis at the global level, which has affected its ability to meet all the needs of refugees; as a result, the support currently available is being directed to the most vulnerable and needy families, based on careful assessments of the cases.” She adds: “We are fully aware of the negative impact of this reduction on a number of families, and we are working with all our energy to mitigate this impact through coordination with partners and the relevant authorities in Egypt. UNHCR continues to mobilise support from international donors and to widen the circle of partnerships, including with the private sector, in order to secure additional, sustainable funding.”
Christine stresses coordination with the Egyptian government to mitigate the repercussions, saying: “We support the Egyptian government in its efforts to strengthen infrastructure and public services in a way that serves both refugees and host communities. The impact of the harsh humanitarian funding cuts on refugees’ lives has already become devastating; with assistance reduced, the lives of millions are under threat.”
She continues, speaking to us: “This impact is immediate and severe. Vital medicines, emergency shelter, food, relief items, clean water and protection services, including for children and survivors of sexual violence and trafficking, have been reduced or stopped. Wars continue to force thousands to flee their homes to save their lives. In the absence of stability or peace, these cuts mean that those at risk will not receive assistance, and more lives will be lost. This crisis goes beyond being a funding gap; it is a crisis of responsibility, as the absence of adequate support will lead to more suffering, instability and lost futures for millions of people at risk.” She stresses that supporting refugees and host communities is not only a moral duty but a smart choice that contributes to strengthening stability, reducing dangerous migration, developing local economies and supporting peace.
For a detailed report published by Zawia3 on the crisis: Reduced UNHCR Support Threatens the Lives of Refugees in Egypt
10. Culture and access to knowledge
Closure of 120 Libraries and Culture Houses
Cultural and artistic circles in Egypt are witnessing a state of anger and resentment following the Ministry of Culture’s decision to vacate 120 rented premises of culture houses and libraries in a number of governorates and hand them over to their owners, with the redistribution of their staff. A number of intellectuals considered that the decision represents a serious retreat in support for public culture and contributes to undermining the cultural justice guaranteed by the Egyptian Constitution.
The Constitution, in its Article (48) as amended in 2019, stipulates that “culture is a right of every citizen, guaranteed by the state, which is committed to supporting it and making it available to all groups of the people without discrimination”. Critics of the decision believe that the state’s withdrawal from supporting cultural spaces, especially in marginalised areas, opens the way for the spread of ignorance and intellectual insularity and weakens the enlightening role of cultural institutions.
The decision was issued by Major General Khaled El-Laban, Assistant Minister of Culture for the Presidency of the General Authority for Cultural Palaces, instructing the heads of the cultural regions to take the legal measures to redistribute the staff of the houses and libraries slated to be vacated, based on the approval of the Authority’s board of directors at its session No. (324) held on 5 March 2025, the minutes of which were approved by the Minister of Culture on 13 March 2025. The decision set a final deadline for carrying out the evacuation no later than 29 May 2025.
The General Authority for Cultural Palaces faces chronic challenges related to the weak budget allocated to cultural activity, which does not exceed EGP 87 million a year, in addition to a shortage of specialised staff in the cultural and artistic fields and the lack in many of its facilities of the basic infrastructure that would equip them to receive the public. This was confirmed by Egypt’s Minister of Culture, Dr Ahmed Fouad Hanno, in his speech before the plenary session of the Senate in January of last year.
Despite these conditions, the ministry’s data showed that during 2024 the Authority succeeded in implementing more than 90,000 cultural and artistic activities, benefiting about 4 million citizens in various governorates, which reflects the scale of the pressure on this institution given its limited resources.
According to officials at the Ministry of Culture, the number of cultural sites in Egypt currently stands at 619, and with the implementation of the recent closure decisions, which include nearly 100 culture houses, the number will fall to roughly 500 sites only. This downward trend is confirmed by the report of the Central Agency for Public Mobilisation and Statistics issued in 2022, which indicated that the number of cultural palaces and houses fell from 594 sites in 2016 to only 347 by 2021, while 2017 marked the start of the sharp decline, when their number stood at only 336 sites.
The decision prompted a number of MPs to submit urgent briefing requests to the government, warning of the repercussions of this step on the country’s cultural scene, and a number of intellectuals and parliamentarians affirm, in statements to Zawia3 within a report entitled: “Closure of 120 Libraries and Culture Houses in Egypt: The Policy of Cultural Contraction Takes On an Official Character“, that the Ministry of Culture’s decision cannot be considered merely an administrative measure aimed at rationalising resources, but is seen as an extension of a policy approach that tends to reduce the enlightening role of public cultural institutions. They affirm that this orientation portends a gradual shift in the state’s cultural philosophy, from considering culture a constitutional right guaranteed to all to making it an elitist privilege confined to those who can pay, amid growing indicators of the privatisation of some cultural services.
