Enforced disappearance in Sinai and declining social protection
1. Work, wages and health insurance
Labour Strikes
During the past month, “Zawia3” monitored the organisation of more than 8 labour protests in Cairo and several governorates, most notably in the spinning and weaving, contracting, private security and land transport sectors.
At the “Misr Spinning and Weaving” company in Mahalla El-Kubra, dozens of workers organised a protest inside the factory walls, objecting to the delay in paying monthly incentives and the shift allowance, and to the absence of transparency in distributing annual profits.
A private contracting company in the October area also saw a two-day strike, after the management refused to give permanent status to about 60 daily-wage workers despite previous promises, which prompted some to submit collective complaints to the labour office, without an official response as of the date of publication of the report.
“Ceramica Inova” Workers Face Unemployment and Deprivation of Health Insurance
Nearly 1,800 workers at the “Ceramica Inova” factory in Fayoum face difficult living and humanitarian conditions, after production stopped completely a year ago and the company’s debts accumulated to more than EGP 80 million. The factory, formerly known as “Ceramica Pharaohs”, was one of the most prominent factories operating in the Kom Oshim industrial zone, before its financial and administrative crises worsened and were reflected directly on the workers.
Testimonies from workers “Zawia3” spoke to report their suffering from delays in the payment of salaries, and their deprivation of health insurance despite the continued deductions from their salaries, which has led to the halting of treatment for patients with blood pressure, diabetes and cancer, amid a complete absence of any government action. Workers have also been repeatedly laid off, and the dismissals included 350 workers, among them women and people with disabilities, without alternatives being provided.
In his account, Khaled Mohamed (a pseudonym), one of the oldest workers at the factory, says that the crisis began gradually, as the payment of incentives was delayed, then the payment of salaries was delayed, until they came to be paid on the seventh, and sometimes on the fifteenth, of the following month; after that 57 female workers were laid off, and it seems this was done with the governor’s knowledge. He notes that matters did not stop at late salaries but extended to the file of treatment and health insurance, as the workers were surprised to find themselves deprived of health services despite insurance contributions continuing to be deducted from their salaries.
Health insurance coverage for the workers stopped completely, as the worker confirms: “I am diabetic, and my insurance card is valid for the next three years, and I have proof of my illness, yet I cannot obtain my medicine. The last time I was able to obtain it was a month ago, then everything suddenly stopped”.
Although the workers organised a strike in which thousands took part at the beginning of the year, and submitted clear demands to improve wages and working conditions, the management’s response was limited, while the official bodies merely kept silent, according to the workers’ testimonies, despite the knowledge of the labour office, Fayoum governorate and the Ministry of Manpower of the crisis, as they criticise “the collapse of legal protection for the Egyptian worker”, amid disregard for the articles of the Labour Law that guarantee the right to wages and treatment.
The “Ceramica Inova” crisis embodies a stark example of the crises of the private industrial sector in Egypt, where workers remain the weakest link and pay the price of mismanagement and the absence of oversight.
2. Education and equal opportunity
Education Amendments Entrench Class Discrimination
The House of Representatives’ final approval, on 8 July this month, of the bill submitted by the government amending some provisions of the Education Law issued by Law No. 139 of 1981 provoked a state of controversy in educational and parliamentary circles and widespread fears among the parents of pupils about to enter the general secondary stage and the baccalaureate system introduced by the amendments to the law. The amendments also faced criticism for making the pass mark in religious education start at 70%, and for imposing financial fees if a student fails and retakes the subject’s exam or repeats the school year, which could weigh heavily on low-income parents.
Despite parliamentary reservations and objections expressed by a number of MPs from political parties considered to be in the opposition, such as the Egyptian Social Democratic Party, the Wafd and Tagammu, and by parliamentarians who are members of the Coordination of Party Youth Leaders and Politicians, over granting the Minister of Education the power to approve programmes parallel to the general secondary certificate and to impose fees on them without referring to parliament, which they considered an encroachment by the executive authority on the House of Representatives’ authority to legislate and approve the education system, criticising the absence of any clear financial allocations in the draft budget to support the new programmes, in addition to the law’s requirement of 70% to pass religious education despite the lack of specialised teachers, especially in the Christian religion, considering that the bill in its current form could be the beginning of the privatisation of education, and expressing their fears of turning students into a testing ground for any newly introduced education system, parliament quickly approved the bill.
The approval came after a number of the bill’s articles were reworded, other articles were deleted, and new articles on the Egyptian Baccalaureate certificate were introduced, making it an optional educational system, free of charge, without the new system being a substitute for the general secondary certificate. Parliamentary amendments were also made to the improvement system, so that retaking a subject the first time is completely free, and if the student retakes the subject’s exam he pays a fee of only EGP 200 per subject, with the possibility of gradually increasing the amount by a Cabinet decision, but on condition that the increase does not exceed EGP 400 per time for the same subject, which also applies to technical and technological education, including technological secondary education.
For its part, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights expressed its rejection of the bill amending the Education Law, which was referred to the House of Representatives days before the end of the current session, considering that it is being passed “without any serious societal dialogue or study of its repercussions on millions of Egyptian families”.
In a statement it issued, the Initiative described the proposed amendments as “entrenching inequality and class discrimination, and multiplying the economic and social burdens on the shoulders of Egyptian families”.
To read a report published by Zawia3, titled: The New Education Law: This Is How Free Education Is Eroding in Egypt
3. Housing, property and protection from displacement
The Old Rent Law Threatens the Most Vulnerable Groups
The Egyptian House of Representatives’ approval of the old rent bill provoked broad criticism in human rights circles and civil society institutions, which considered it a fundamental shift in the state’s conception of its responsibility towards the right to housing.
For its part, the New Woman Foundation criticised the law because it does not merely liberalise the relationship between landlord and tenant, but reflects a withdrawal from the state’s role in protecting the most vulnerable groups, in a broader context of dismantling welfare policies and lifting subsidies, warning that the amendments represent a direct threat to the stable forms of housing that have long constituted a refuge for low-income groups, especially women, including divorced women, widows, elderly women and female breadwinners.
The foundation considered, in a statement it issued, that the law establishes a model of forced redistribution that could affect more than 6 million people, by moving residents from stable housing to unsafe situations or unfair contracts. It is also feared that it will lead to a worsening housing crisis because of rising rents and ownership prices. Opponents of the law see it as entrenching housing as a commodity rather than a social right, and as reproducing marginalisation and poverty, especially among women.
Meanwhile, the Cairo Foundation for Development and Law expressed its total rejection of the old rent law after the Egyptian parliament approved it, considering that it threatens the rights of the most vulnerable groups in society, especially tenants with limited income, female breadwinners, the elderly and families with limited income, and stressing that the law does not reflect the living reality of citizens who rely on the protection provided by the old rent law to guarantee decent housing; rather, it increases their financial burdens and exposes them to the risk of losing their homes.
A statement issued by the foundation said that parliament’s approval of the law does not mean accepting it or giving up the just demands that protect vulnerable groups, stressing the continued call on the competent authorities to provide real protection mechanisms for tenants, including supporting social housing, guaranteeing effective legal protection from arbitrary eviction, and providing fair and sustainable alternatives, emphasising the foundation’s rejection of human rights, especially the right to housing, being subject to bargaining or sacrifice, and calling on all parties concerned to commit to protecting the most vulnerable groups and to work to reform legislation in a way that achieves social justice and preserves the dignity of male and female citizens.
For his part, housing and urban policy researcher Yahya Shawkat criticises parliament’s approval of the old rent bill, describing it as “unfair to residents”, and warning that it “will lead to a new housing crisis threatening hundreds of thousands of families in the next few years”, fears that opposition parties, human rights organisations and independent experts had previously expressed.
Shawkat explains, speaking to Zawia3, that the law “went beyond the ruling of the Supreme Constitutional Court, which permitted the gradual raising of the rental value without affecting residents’ right to stability”, adding that the current bill “proposes unrealistic solutions at the social and economic levels, based on evicting and displacing tenants to alternative housing that may not suit their financial capacities or psychological needs, which carries within it the risk of homelessness and impoverishment”.
He adds that it would have been better to reach a “win-win solution”, based on directing the allocations for building alternative housing to subsidising the higher rents for those unable to pay, ensuring that they keep their homes and that landlords are paid a fair return, which many landlords themselves have demanded.
Shawkat also warns of the broader effects of the law, pointing out that it “will lead to the destabilisation of thousands of small commercial and social activities”, which will be reflected in a reshaping of the social composition of a large number of neighbourhoods within cities, and may lead, according to him, to “the disappearance of a not insignificant proportion of these small activities, which are the lifeblood of popular and old neighbourhoods”.
Development Bulldozers Storm the El-Rissa Neighbourhood in El-Arish
In the El-Rissa neighbourhood of the city of El-Arish, North Sinai, the demolition works carried out by the local authorities as part of the El-Arish port development project are continuing, which has caused the displacement of hundreds of families from their homes without prior warning, amid complaints of compensation that does not keep pace with current market prices and the absence of suitable housing alternatives.
This comes in implementation of Presidential Decree No. 330 of 2019, which stipulated that El-Arish port and its surroundings be considered works of public benefit and transferred their affiliation to the Armed Forces, then Decree No. 465 of 2021, which provided for the reallocation of 541 feddans to them.
Meanwhile, dozens of residents of the El-Arish port area gathered in the early hours of the morning of Tuesday, 29 July, in front of the headquarters of Battalion 101 in El-Arish, to demand the release of at least 8 of their relatives, whom police forces and the National Security Agency had arrested earlier on Monday evening and held at El-Arish Second police station.
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights quoted eyewitnesses as saying that the arrests came during a car procession carried out by the neighbourhood’s residents on Monday evening in protest against the forced displacement decisions and the demolition of their homes, and video clips published by the foundation showed scenes of dozens of citizens, including women and children, chanting demands for the release of the detainees and a halt to the demolition. The protesters chanted slogans including: “Whatever you take from us, we will not leave our homes”.
The foundation expressed, in a statement it issued, its concern over the security escalation against civilian residents in the El-Arish port neighbourhood, and stresses that the ongoing operations of forced displacement and demolition of civilians’ homes without providing decent housing alternatives constitute a flagrant violation of the right to housing, and calls on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release the detainees, halt the demolitions, consult the residents and compensate them in a decent and fair manner.
A number of the neighbourhood’s residents, who hold legal contracts and title deeds, have told “Zawia3” that the demolitions are carried out suddenly, without sufficient notice to vacate the homes, and without transparency in paying compensation, stressing that some of them were forced to leave their homes after the demolition without receiving the agreed amounts or alternative housing.
Meanwhile, MP Rahmy Bakir, in statements to Zawia3, expresses his solidarity with the residents, stressing that the current compensation “is not enough to build alternative housing”, and calling for the application of Law No. 10 of 1990 on expropriation for public benefit, which requires fair compensation to be granted and paid before demolitions are carried out, and for the swift implementation of the government’s promises to provide fair alternatives.
He says: “The main problem lies in the lack of fairness of the compensation compared with current prices, pointing out that the pricing per metre started at EGP 1,200 and then rose to EGP 3,500, while its real price currently is about EGP 8,000 to 9,000”.
For her part, Eman Gad, documentation officer at the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights, stresses that the ongoing demolitions in the port neighbourhood of El-Arish are catastrophic, especially given the unavailability of suitable housing alternatives or fair compensation before the eviction and demolition decisions are implemented, or even a guarantee of obtaining them after the demolition, noting that the demolitions are carried out without genuine consultation with the residents or respect for their dignity; for example, after a committee formed last year had actually agreed with the residents on a suitable and fair form of compensation, none of these agreements was implemented, and a new committee was appointed when the demolitions began.
The current demolitions represent a violation of the principles of procedural justice and of the human right to safe and stable housing, as stipulated in international charters, foremost among them the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which Egypt signed in 1967.
Gad explains that according to international standards, forced displacement is a process of moving people from their homes without their free and informed consent and without providing fair and safe alternatives, and in view of the testimonies and conversations with residents, she stresses that the eviction is taking place under security pressure, without ready alternative housing or actual compensation that enables families to live in dignity, so what is happening in the port neighbourhood falls legally within the forms of forced displacement, a practice prohibited under international humanitarian law and human rights law, which Egypt also signed and ratified in 1949.
She tells “Zawia3”: “The demands of citizens in the port neighbourhood are entirely legitimate and must not be circumvented in any way; the demands are logical and legal, and are limited to their obtaining financial compensation sufficient for them to buy alternative housing, or obtaining a property matching the specifications of the one acquired by the state… Everything the residents of the port neighbourhood are demanding are inherent rights guaranteed by the Egyptian constitution itself, as they are guaranteed by international conventions… Every citizen has the right not to be uprooted from his home without clear legal and humanitarian guarantees, especially in an area suffering from exceptional circumstances such as North Sinai”.
She adds: “After the demolitions stopped in 2023, following the residents’ recourse to the court to demand the postponement of the eviction until fair alternatives were provided, the state and its bodies did not seek to find actual solutions or to involve the residents in the process of planning the development”.
The documentation officer believes that resolving the crisis in the El-Arish port area begins with the state’s recognition of the residents’ right to housing and to participation in the decisions affecting their lives, proposing an immediate freeze on demolitions until a comprehensive societal dialogue is held, and the formation of an independent committee including representatives of the residents, civil society and the local authorities, to assess the situation and make practical recommendations to ensure transparency in the compensation criteria, and the provision of suitable alternative housing before eviction, not future promises.
Meanwhile, Mahmoud Shalaby, the researcher on Egyptian and Libyan affairs at Amnesty International, considers that the news of forced evictions and demolition of homes in the port neighbourhood in El-Arish represents part of a recurring pattern Egypt has witnessed in recent years, consisting of excluding community participation and turning development issues into security matters, at the expense of the residents’ rights.
In the course of his conversation with “Zawia3”, he stresses that evictions must be subject to clear controls in accordance with the standards of international law, which stipulate first of all the need to hold serious and meaningful consultations with the affected residents before taking any decision on demolition or eviction, out of respect for their right to housing and the livelihoods linked to it, pointing out that, if it is proven that there are no alternatives to eviction for implementing development plans, residents are supposed to be given advance notice with sufficient time before the demolition is carried out, so that they can make the necessary arrangements for their lives.
He emphasises the importance of compensation being fair and proportionate to current economic conditions, considering that fair compensation should be determined in consultation with the residents and take into account the nature of their lives, their work and their sources of income, such as farming or fishing, which may be linked to the place itself.
To read a report published by Zawia3, titled: Development Bulldozers Storm the El-Rissa Neighbourhood in El-Arish
4. The right to health and treatment
The Suffering of Cancer Patients at Gustave Roussy
The privatisation of the “Dar El-Salam Oncology” hospital (formerly Harmal), after its management was handed over to the company “Elevate Private Equity” in partnership with the French “Gustave Roussy” institute, provoked a wave of complaints among patients, against the background of a sharp decline in the level of service, shortages of medicines, and deaths among children with cancer.
According to testimonies gathered by “Zawia3”, the hospital has stopped receiving new cases of children, while patients’ relatives complained of medical negligence and mistreatment, most notably the death of the child Yassin Nabil after his treatment stalled, along with other deaths including Yasmine, Nour and Amal. Patients’ families spoke of buying medicines on the black market at exorbitant prices, after the pharmacy stopped dispensing them, along with bureaucratic complications that prevented the completion of treatment.
In the same context, cancer patients accused the hospital of imposing unfair administrative conditions for dispensing vital medicines, and of refusing to accept old treatment decisions. Female patients also complained of verbal abuse and threats if they submitted complaints, amid calls to organise a protest against the new management.
For its part, the Ministry of Health confirmed that it had received official complaints, and Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar announced urgent measures, including the establishment of a complaints unit and the acceleration of treatment decisions. The management of “Gustave Roussy – Egypt” also issued a statement in which it denied that the provision of services had stopped, and affirmed that work was continuing and service hours were being expanded, claiming to have achieved accomplishments within a short period, but it did not offer tangible solutions to the crises reported by patients.
By contrast, human rights defenders, most notably Mahmoud Fouad, head of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Medicine, warned of the impact of privatisation on the constitutional right to treatment, accusing the government of relinquishing its role in favour of a profit-making model.
Fouad explains to “Zawia3” that the hospital served all oncology patients, not only breast cancer patients as the government claimed, and includes bone marrow transplant units and a heart unit, and that it was built with the people’s money and may not be privatised under any pretext, warning that the privatisation of 18 additional government hospitals would be a health catastrophe.
MPs, among them Dr Freddy El-Bayadi, also directed criticism at the government’s orientation towards privatising major hospitals, considering that it threatens fairness in providing health services to the neediest groups.
To read a report published by Zawia3, titled:
Gustave Roussy after Privatisation: Less Medicine, More Pain
The Harm Reduction Units Crisis Continues
In another context, an investigation published by “Zawia3” in July this month, titled: “The Methadone Crisis: What Is the Secret behind Ketamine Appearing in the Blood of Harm Reduction Patients?“, revealed a health and ethical crisis threatening the right of addiction patients to safe treatment, as a result of the reduction of methadone doses, the sudden shift to an unaccredited local drug, questionable test results, and administrative decisions taken without transparency or a scientific basis.
The patients found themselves facing relapses and expulsion from the programmes, amid an absence of oversight and redress mechanisms, which requires urgent intervention by medical and human rights bodies to ensure the continuation of harm reduction programmes with standards that respect human life and dignity.
In March 2023, the Egyptian Ministry of Health, in cooperation with the General Secretariat of Mental Health, had launched the first “harm reduction” units for addiction treatment, relying on methadone as a safe therapeutic substitute for opioids.
However, this hope soon faded in spring 2025, after an acute crisis in the supply of the drug, and the treatment switched to an Egyptian substitute drug that is not internationally accredited, which led to mass relapses, the expulsion of patients from the programme, and accusations of violating medical and ethical standards.
Another crisis ignited the patients’ doubts, when the results of mass urine tests began to come back positive for the drug “ketamine”, even though everyone denied taking it. Mazen says: “It is impossible for 200 positive ketamine results to appear at once because of damaged strips! If the strips were defective, scattered results for different substances would have appeared, not all of them for a single substance”.
The patients pointed to the change in the colour of the methadone solution they received from clear or pale yellow to blue, which raised doubts about its new composition.
The patients reported that those whose tests showed only ketamine were allowed to remain in the programme, while others in whom other narcotic substances appeared were dismissed, without consideration for the possibility of relapse or withdrawal symptoms resulting from the change of drug.
Some patients were later readmitted after the arrival of a new shipment of imported methadone, but at very low standardised doses (1–3 cc daily), which the patients described as ineffective and not relieving symptoms.
An urgent report addressed to the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in Vienna (Zawia3 obtained a copy of it) documented grave violations in the methadone treatment programme, including the sudden shift to a local drug that is not internationally accredited, the reduction of patients’ doses without clinical assessment, the dismissal of patients without warning and their deprivation of treatment even though relapse is common in treatment, and the appearance of ketamine in all urine tests, which raised doubts about the drug itself.
The report stated that the imported methadone suddenly expired without prior announcement or an alternative plan, which left thousands of patients without treatment. When the drug returned, it was different from usual, and its doses were standardised without clinical flexibility.
The report also held Dr Ghada Waly, the former Executive Director of the UNODC, responsible for the failure to oversee the programme, especially since she had praised its success during the 68th session of the UN Commission on Narcotic Drugs on 14 March 2025, that is, two weeks before the collapse.
5. Enforced disappearance and the right to truth
Enforced Disappearance in Sinai
The Sinai Foundation for Human Rights issued, on 21 July 2025, a report titled “In the Depths of the Pit: Untold Stories of Civilians Swallowed by Secret Detention Facilities in Sinai”, in which it documented 82 cases of enforced disappearance ongoing at the time of publication, as part of what it described as a systematic pattern of disappearance that is not officially acknowledged, in the context of the prolonged security operations in North Sinai governorate.
The report reviews testimonies from the families of civilians who were forcibly disappeared after being stopped at security checkpoints or during raids on their homes. According to the foundation, some of these cases date back more than ten years without any information emerging about their fate. The report indicates that most of the detainees disappeared after being arrested by forces affiliated with the army or the National Security Sector, without being brought before the prosecution or their families being allowed to communicate with them.
North Sinai governorate is one of the most restricted areas with regard to freedom of access to information, as the authorities impose tight restrictions on the movements of journalists and human rights organisations, which increases the difficulty of documentation and weakens the possibility of independent review of events.
In preparing the report, the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights relied on interviews with the families of the disappeared, along with a review of complaints submitted to the National Council for Human Rights and the monitoring of local publications and unofficial documents. According to the report, the real number of the disappeared may be much greater than the confirmed cases, as local estimates gathered by the foundation indicate between 3,000 and 3,500 cases of enforced disappearance over the past two decades in North Sinai, none of which have been announced by official bodies.
The report includes testimonies from relatives of the disappeared, among them the testimony of the father of one of the disappeared, who said he had received unofficial information confirming that his son is still alive inside one of the military detention facilities, without being able to find out his location or communicate with him. The report also stated that some families spotted their sons’ names on unofficial lists of civil associations documenting the missing, while the authorities still deny their existence.
The report links the current pattern of enforced disappearance to security practices dating back to the aftermath of the Taba bombings in 2004, when the security services launched large-scale campaigns in Sinai that affected thousands of citizens, some of whom were detained for long periods without trial. The foundation considers that these practices entrenched a pattern of security abuses that included extrajudicial detention, disappearance in undisclosed places, and the continued deprivation of families of the right to know the fate of their relatives.
The report indicates that counter-terrorism policies in Sinai, especially following the rise in the activity of the Sinai Province organisation, were accompanied by a broad security escalation, which had a direct impact on the civilian population, who found themselves exposed to harsh security measures without sufficient legal guarantees.
The report concluded with a set of recommendations, most notably the call for the immediate release of all detainees who have not been referred to the judiciary or against whom no judicial rulings have been issued. The foundation also called for the publication of official lists of the names of detainees and the forcibly disappeared, for their families and lawyers to be allowed to communicate with them, and for independent investigations to be opened into the documented cases, with the participation of independent judicial bodies or specialised UN missions.
The report stressed the importance of enabling local and international human rights organisations to enter North Sinai, and of providing guarantees to protect their work from any security pressures, as a basic condition for ensuring transparency and accountability.
The State’s Position
The Egyptian authorities have not issued any official comment on what was stated in it, nor have they commented on the figures or testimonies documented by the foundation. The state usually relies on “national security” considerations in imposing restrictions on information related to Sinai, while it repeatedly denies the existence of cases of enforced disappearance, considering that many of those reporting cases of absence do not report precise details or do not submit documented official reports.
The Dilemma of Documentation in a Closed Area
The report highlights what it describes as the difficulty of obtaining accurate data because of the closed security nature of the area. It adds that the state of fear prevailing among residents prevents many families from submitting official reports for fear of reprisal or threats. It stresses that the figures cited represent only part of the full picture, amid the absence of any independent oversight role inside North Sinai.
The authors of the report believe that the continuation of enforced disappearance in an area subject to a broad security campaign raises questions about the extent of the Egyptian state’s commitment to the international conventions it has ratified, including the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance and the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.
This report is a continuation of previous efforts by the Sinai Foundation for Human Rights to document violations affecting civilians during security operations, including reports addressing arbitrary arrest, forced displacement and the use of excessive force, amid the absence of an independent official investigation mechanism.
6. International accountability and foreign partnerships
Calls to Link European Support for Egypt to Human Rights Reforms
24 local, regional and international human rights organisations called for linking the proposed European financial package for Egypt to tangible steps in the files of human rights, good governance and social justice. This came in a joint statement issued on 1 July 2025, shortly before the launch of the round of negotiations between the Egyptian government and the European Union on the memorandum of understanding on economic assistance.
The organisations called on the European Union to refrain from providing any new financial support to the Egyptian government unless the agreement is accompanied by measurable commitments and actual review mechanisms, considering that granting funding of this size without clear implementation conditions could be used to entrench existing policies instead of pushing towards real reform.
The statement drew on the European legislative framework for macro-financial assistance, specifically Article (2)(1), which requires linking economic support to “credible progress towards respect for effective democratic mechanisms, the rule of law and human rights”. But according to the signatory organisations, the current draft memorandum of understanding lacks any real guarantees obliging the Egyptian government to achieve this progress, and it is also devoid of an independent mechanism for periodic review or for linking the disbursement of assistance to clear performance indicators.
The organisations considered that this absence of accountability threatens to turn the financial package into unconditional support for a government that successive international reports accuse of undermining fundamental freedoms, shrinking civic space and weakening the institutions of justice.
The statement shed light on what it considered a structural flaw in the priorities of fiscal policy in Egypt, citing official figures showing low spending allocations for the education, health and social protection sectors. In the 2023–2024 fiscal year, government spending on education did not exceed 1.72% of gross domestic product, although the Egyptian constitution stipulates a minimum of 6%. As for the health sector, it received only 1.17% of output, against a mandatory constitutional ratio of 3%. With regard to social protection, the statement considered that the “Takaful and Karama” programme does not meet basic needs, whether in terms of geographical coverage or the level of support, compared with the national poverty line.
The organisations warned that continuing to provide external support without requiring that sufficient resources be directed to these sectors deepens social inequality and weakens the chances of balanced development, especially with the widening scope of poverty and the erosion of institutional protection tools.
In their statement, the organisations put forward a set of measures they believe must be included in the text of the agreement, ensuring a mutual commitment rather than mere political promises. Among these measures is the publication of an annual joint assessment by the Egyptian government and the European Union on the extent of the progress achieved in implementing the reforms, to be carried out transparently and made available to the public.
They also called for involving civil society organisations and the relevant UN bodies in the review process, in a way that strengthens the independence of the assessments and provides oversight tools outside the official frameworks. They called for the inclusion of measurable quantitative indicators to monitor spending on social services, improve the environment for human rights work, and guarantee freedom of expression and association.
The organisations stressed the need for European support to be disbursed in stages, each linked to the level of progress achieved, instead of being transferred in a single payment without any link to performance or actual reforms.
EUR 4 Billion without Guarantees?
These demands come at a time when the European Union is accelerating its moves to sign memoranda of understanding with North African countries, amid security priorities related to migration and energy, and this is often done at the expense of human rights standards. Similar agreements with countries such as Tunisia and Morocco have previously been criticised by members of the European Parliament because of the lack of transparency and the weakness of independent oversight mechanisms.
In Egypt’s case, the value of the proposed package is estimated at more than EUR 4 billion, which makes it one of the largest European financial support programmes in the region. The signatory organisations believe that ignoring the human rights and social aspects in this agreement not only weakens the European Union’s credibility but also causes it to miss a real opportunity to use its financial tools to push its partners towards structural reforms that guarantee long-term stability, instead of reinforcing patterns of governance that exclude the most vulnerable groups and keep state institutions outside the circle of accountability.
The Universal Periodic Review of Human Rights
In another context, the United Nations Human Rights Council adopted the final report of the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) of Egypt’s human rights record. During the session, which was held on Wednesday, 2 July 2025, the representative of the Egyptian government announced that Egypt had accepted 281 recommendations out of 343 recommendations submitted by member states, noting that 45 of them had already been implemented.
Meanwhile, Hossam Bahgat, director of the “Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights”, considered in an intervention during the session that the official narrative reflects a “parallel reality”, referring to the gap between what the government announced and the actual practices on the ground.
137 states had submitted more than 370 recommendations to improve the human rights situation in Egypt during the review session held on 28 January, and repeated or similar recommendations were merged so that their final number became 343 recommendations.
The recommendations covered a wide range of human rights issues, including combating torture, ending the phenomenon of recycling detainees, and stopping arbitrary detention and enforced disappearance, in addition to reviewing laws restricting freedoms such as the Code of Criminal Procedure and the associations and asylum laws, as well as violations against journalists and human rights defenders, restrictions on women, and the decline in spending on social services.
Recommended reading: How Did the Egyptian Government Deal with the Universal Periodic Review Recommendations?
US Sanctions on a UN Rapporteur over a Report on War Crimes in Palestine
The United States of America announced the imposition of sanctions on Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the occupied Palestinian territories, in response to her efforts aimed at pushing the International Criminal Court towards an arms embargo and a halt to commercial cooperation with the occupying state, and because of her speech before the Human Rights Council presenting her latest report, in which she called for investigating officials of more than 60 major companies on charges related to human rights violations and war crimes, considering that the genocide continues because it is profitable.
The decision came after US Secretary of State Marco Rubio accused Albanese of leading a “malicious and illegitimate campaign” against his country and its ally Israel, considering that her moves exploit international mechanisms to harm the sovereignty of the United States.
For her part, Albanese affirmed that she is pressing ahead with performing her duties and obligations, which are based on the resolutions of the Human Rights Council and international law, stressing her determination to continue documenting violations against the Palestinian people and conveying the voices of the victims to the international community without yielding to any political pressure.
Targeting a UN rapporteur who holds an official international mandate, by imposing official sanctions, represents a striking and unusual development that could create a dangerous precedent in the way major powers deal with rapporteurs.
In a related context, on 27 July this month the Egyptian Red Crescent launched the convoy “Zad Al-Ezza… From Egypt to Gaza”, which includes aid trucks heading to the south of the Strip via the Karm Abu Salem crossing, and comprises more than 100 trucks carrying over 1,200 tonnes of foodstuffs, carrying about 840 tonnes of flour and 450 tonnes of assorted food baskets; this comes within the framework of Egyptian efforts to provide food support to the people of the Strip.
In a statement, the Egyptian Red Crescent affirmed that it has been present on the border since the start of the crisis, as the Rafah crossing was never closed from the Egyptian side, and that it has continued its readiness and its efforts to bring in aid through the efforts of 35,000 volunteers of the society, noting that the volume of relief aid brought into Gaza since the start of the crisis is more than 35,000 trucks carrying more than 500,000 tonnes of aid, ranging from food, water, medical supplies and medicines, relief and shelter materials and personal hygiene supplies to milk and children’s nappies, in addition to ambulances and fuel trucks.
7. Protection from torture and the right to life
Impunity in Torture Crimes
The “No Statute of Limitations – Torture Map” campaign of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms issued its annual report titled: “Prohibited Documentation and Obstructed Litigation: Systematic Collusion Entrenches Impunity in Torture Crimes”, covering the period from January 2024 to June 2025.
The report sheds light on the reality of torture and ill-treatment violations in places of detention in Egypt, amid a closed political and security environment that obstructs documentation and accountability, affirming the continued absence of justice and the rising rates of impunity despite the multiplicity of complaints and testimonies about cases of death under torture, and the recurrence of patterns of withholding evidence, threatening witnesses and misleading public opinion through official narratives.
According to the report, 75 cases of torture were documented during the monitoring period, 50.6% of which occurred in 2024 and 49.3% in the first half of 2025, which indicates that the pace of violations is continuing at an almost steady rate, and the absence of any serious indicators of a reduction in these crimes.
The report pointed out that 91% of these violations occurred inside official places of detention such as prisons and police stations, which places direct legal responsibility on the state’s security and oversight authorities. The report stresses that reporting and litigation mechanisms in torture crimes remain almost paralysed as a result of legal and institutional accumulations, calling for a comprehensive reform of the criminal justice system, and for ensuring that victims and their families are enabled to use reporting mechanisms and that effective legal support is provided.
At the end of the report, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms called for: substantive legislative amendments to define and criminalise torture without restrictions or exceptions; the issuing of binding instructions to the Public Prosecution on mechanisms for immediate and serious investigation of torture complaints; strengthening judicial supervision of places of detention, including National Security headquarters; providing free legal support and facilitating litigation procedures for victims and their families; fulfilling Egypt’s international obligations under the Convention against Torture and acceding to its Optional Protocol; expanding the roles of civil society in documentation and strategic litigation; and disseminating human rights successes to support confidence in justice.
In a related context, a group of families of political prisoners and prisoners of conscience in Egypt issued a mass humanitarian statement, in which they appealed to the Egyptian people, civil forces, unions and human rights institutions to stand by them in their demands for the immediate and unconditional release of all political prisoners and prisoners of conscience, warning against continued silence in the face of what they described as “injustice ongoing for more than a decade”.
269 Death Sentences in Egypt in the First Half of 2025
During the first half of 2025, Egyptian courts issued death sentences against 269 defendants in 194 cases, among them 17 defendants against whom final sentences not subject to appeal were issued, according to a report by the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights.
The statistical report of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights indicated that the papers of 197 defendants in 137 cases were referred to the Mufti in preparation for sentencing them to death, while the death sentence was carried out against only three people during the same period.
The Initiative stressed that these figures represent the minimum the researchers were able to reach, based on the testimonies of families and what was circulated by the media, amid the absence of official transparency regarding the number of those sentenced to death or against whom the sentences have been carried out.
8. Personal liberty and the rights of detainees and defenders
Judicial Decision to Remove Alaa Abdel Fattah’s Name from the Terrorism Lists
On Wednesday 30 July, the Official Gazette published the decision of the Cairo Criminal Court to remove the name of political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah from the terrorism lists, after accepting the appeal filed against a previous decision to list him under the Terrorist Entities Law. The decision was issued by the First Terrorism Circuit headed by Counsellor Mohamed Saeed El-Sherbiny, and provided for ending all the legal effects resulting from the listing, including the travel ban, the freezing of assets and restrictions on public life.
Lawyer Khaled Ali, a member of the defence team, announced that the decision became effective after its official publication in the Gazette.
Over the past years, Abdel Fattah’s family, foremost among them his mother, academic Laila Soueif, and his sisters Mona Seif and Sanaa Seif, followed the course of the legal appeal, stressing that the listing decision was an arbitrary measure. According to people close to the family, the appeal went through multiple stages in which the legal team faced numerous complications, but it continued to submit memoranda and defence pleas until the new ruling was issued.
The listing decision had been based on accusations that Abdel Fattah had joined “a group founded in violation of the provisions of the law”, a charge his lawyers have repeatedly denied, stressing the absence of sufficient legal evidence to support it.
Ahmed Douma Released on Bail
On Tuesday evening, the Public Prosecution decided to release political activist and poet Ahmed Douma on bail of EGP 50,000, following investigations that lasted more than five hours, pending an investigation report submitted by the State Security apparatus, in which Douma was accused of spreading false news, disturbing public peace, stirring confusion and panic among citizens, and casting doubt on state institutions.
Douma said, in a post on his personal page, that the incident comes for the third time in recent months, pointing out that the charges against him were based on four posts he published on Facebook, describing the investigation report as “farcical”, and noting that he asked the prosecution to cancel or reduce the bail because he was unable to pay it, without the prosecution responding to this request.
Douma’s summons comes in a recurring context of harassment of political activists and opponents, at a time when human rights criticism has increased regarding freedom of expression and the prosecution of social media users over their posts.
Release of the Tenants’ Lawyer
The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the release of lawyer Ayman Essam, known in the media as the “tenants’ lawyer”, only about one hour after the end of the House of Representatives’ plenary session in which the amendments to the old rent law were approved on 2 July 2025.
Security forces had arrested Essam in the city of Alexandria on Thursday 19 June, while he was on his way to take part in a conference organised by the “Tenants’ Defence League” at the headquarters of the Socialist Popular Alliance Party.
Following his arrest, Essam was forcibly disappeared for two days before being brought before the State Security Prosecution in New Cairo on the evening of 21 June, where it was decided to hold him in pretrial detention for 14 days pending investigations. The prosecution charged him with “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news”. But a few days after the decision to detain him, he was suddenly released, in a context that observers considered directly linked to the approval of the controversial amendments to the law.
Trial of Marwa Arafa after More than 5 Years of Pretrial Detention
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights renewed its call for the release of its client, translator Marwa Arafa (32 years old), whose trial began with its first session on Sunday 6 July, after more than five years of pretrial detention.
Marwa is being tried in Case No. 570 of 2020 (Supreme State Security), before the First Terrorism Circuit headed by Counsellor Mohamed El-Sherbiny. The defendant attended the session in person, while the court rejected the Initiative’s lawyer’s request to release her, ignoring the fact that her period of pretrial detention had exceeded the maximum stipulated by law. The court decided to adjourn the trial to the session of 18 October, to give the defence of the defendants the opportunity to review the case papers, for the first time since the charges were brought.
Security forces had arrested Marwa Arafa on 20 April 2020, after storming her home, and held her in an unknown location. She appeared two weeks later before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which charged her with “joining a terrorist group” and “committing a financing crime”, and ordered her pretrial detention. However, the prosecution did not open any investigation into her family’s complaints that she had been subjected to enforced disappearance for two weeks.
According to the Initiative’s statement, the only interrogation session Marwa underwent was held on the day she appeared before the prosecution, while her detention was renewed automatically over five years without actual investigations, which the Initiative considered a grave violation of the Code of Criminal Procedure and the Egyptian constitution. It stressed that Marwa’s referral to trial came after more than five years of unjustified detention, and without any judicial ruling convicting her so far.
17 Human Rights Organisations Demand the Release of Salah Soltan
In a joint statement issued on Friday 11 July, 17 international and Egyptian human rights organisations expressed their deep concern over the deterioration of the health of academic Salah Soltan, who is held in Badr 1 prison, demanding his immediate release and the urgent provision of the necessary medical care, and warning of the risk of his suffering a “sudden death” as a result of what they described as “deliberate medical negligence”.
The signatory organisations criticised what they considered a systematic approach by the Egyptian authorities in targeting members of Soltan’s family over their activity in the field of human rights, referring to the life sentence issued in absentia last month against his son Mohamed Soltan, the human rights activist residing in the United States, who had renounced his Egyptian nationality about ten years ago as a condition for his release and deportation as an American citizen.
Salah Soltan was arrested in September 2013, and two sentences were issued against him, life imprisonment in the “Al-Fath Mosque” case and five years in prison in the “Rabaa Operations Room” case, over charges of inciting violence, joining a terrorist group, planning to stir up chaos and spreading false information.
The statement pointed out that Soltan, who holds legal permanent residency in the United States, suffered an acute health crisis on 18 June while being held in solitary confinement, as he lost consciousness and was transferred to the prison’s medical centre for an MRI scan. However, according to members of his family, he did not receive any diagnosis or medical follow-up despite doctors’ warnings of the possibility that he had suffered a stroke or internal bleeding in the brain.
The organisations stressed that what Soltan is being subjected to comes in the context of Case No. 1766 of 2022, in which a life sentence was issued in absentia in June 2025 against his son Mohamed Soltan, considering this “an act of reprisal” over his human rights activity and his continuous efforts to demand his father’s release.
The Egyptian Initiative Demands the Release of Nermin Hussein
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights called for the immediate release of activist Nermin Hussein, whose detention has exceeded more than 1,900 days of pretrial detention and recycling, considering her continued detention a flagrant violation of the law and the constitution, and an overstepping of the maximum limit set by the Code of Criminal Procedure for pretrial detention.
A statement issued by the Initiative stated that the terrorism circuit at the Badr court complex decided on 12 July to renew Nermin’s detention for an additional 45 days pending Case No. 65 of 2021 (Supreme State Security), despite the absence of legal justifications for her continued detention, and without responding to any of the defence team’s pleas demanding her release.
Security forces had arrested Nermin in March 2020, and the State Security Prosecution charged her with joining a banned group, spreading false news and misusing social media, over posts that addressed the health situation at the beginning of the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, in Case No. 535 of 2020.
The Initiative stressed that Nermin, who was the sole breadwinner for her parents, was unable to bid farewell to her father, who died weeks after her arrest after suffering from cancer. Her physical and psychological health has also deteriorated over five years of detention, as she suffers from chronic bone and joint problems, at a time when her elderly mother endures the hardship of repeated visits between Al-Qanater and 10th of Ramadan prisons.
The Egyptian Commission: Grave Violations against Detainees and Their Lawyers
The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms expressed its condemnation of what it described as the serious violations committed against detainees and their lawyers during detention renewal sessions before the Second Circuit of the Cairo Terrorism Criminal Court, held inside the Badr prison complex, on Sunday 13 July 2025.
According to what the Commission documented from the testimonies of a number of the lawyers present, dozens of detainees were held for more than seven hours inside closed double iron cages surrounded by layers of glass and visual and sound insulation, which deprived them of ventilation and of the use of toilets or access to water, despite the extremely high temperatures, causing cases of exhaustion and fainting, amid escalating screams and hysterical banging on the glass doors, which caused panic in the courtroom.
Through eyewitnesses among the lawyers, the Initiative also documented that attempts to enquire about the conditions inside the cages were met with evasion and prevarication by security officials, while one of the female lawyers faced a direct threat from an officer with the rank of colonel, who accused her of incitement merely for asking to check on the detainees, in what the organisation described as a clear infringement on the freedom of the legal profession and an explicit violation of Article 198 of the Egyptian constitution, which provides for the independence of the legal profession and its role in achieving justice.
The lawyers and the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms called for opening an urgent and independent investigation into the violations that occurred inside the courtroom against detainees and lawyers alike, holding accountable the officer responsible for threatening the lawyer, guaranteeing respect for the freedom of defence and the independence of the legal profession, holding accountable those responsible for the inhumane detention conditions and for exceeding pretrial detention periods in violation of the constitution and the law, and calling on the Lawyers’ Syndicate, the National Council for Human Rights and international human rights organisations to intervene urgently and document the incident.
The Commission concluded its statement by stressing that what happened constitutes a serious violation of human rights and of fair trial guarantees, and calls for accountability and a comprehensive review of detention and trial practices in Egypt.
Rights Organisations Demand an End to the Targeting of the Director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression
Egyptian and international human rights organisations called on the Egyptian authorities to immediately stop all forms of harassment and intimidation against human rights defender Mohamed Abdel Salam, executive director of the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression, stressing that what Abdel Salam is being subjected to represents a systematic pattern of reprisal against legitimate human rights work in Egypt, and contradicts the Egyptian constitution and the international charters to which the state has committed itself.
The organisations stated, in a joint statement issued on Wednesday 23 July, that Abdel Salam was detained on 20 May 2025 at Cairo International Airport for about an hour without legal justification, and his passport was confiscated, before he was subjected to questioning about his travel and his human rights activity. He was later informed that he must go to one of the National Security headquarters in Cairo to “complete the questioning”, without legal basis. On 23 May, Abdel Salam received a call from a National Security officer asking him to come to collect his passport.
The statement recorded that this is not the first time Abdel Salam or his organisation has been targeted; his passport was previously confiscated in 2018, and he was summoned for questioning without a legal order, and in November 2022 the organisation’s offices were subjected to intensive security surveillance by elements in civilian clothes for two weeks.
In the context of administrative restrictions, the statement pointed out that the Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression applied last May, for the first time, for funding through the Ministry of Social Solidarity in accordance with the NGO Law No. 149 of 2019. Despite fulfilling all the required documents, the ministry has not yet issued its approval, which is obstructing the organisation’s access to the financial resources it needs to continue its human rights work.
The organisation also faced great difficulties in opening an official bank account despite its legal registration in 2023, as it took eleven months to obtain approval from a private bank, amid informal hints at the existence of “approvals from other bodies” believed to be security bodies.
9. Refugees’ and migrants’ rights
Boat Carrying Egyptian Migrants Sinks off the Coast of Libya
On 25 July 2025, a tragic accident occurred when a boat carrying Egyptian migrants capsized while they were trying to reach Europe from the Libyan coast near the city of Tobruk, resulting in the deaths of 15 people of Egyptian nationality, while 10 others survived, and it was announced that the boat’s crew included Sudanese citizens who were later rescued. The reasons for the boat capsizing remain unclear, despite local warnings about the dangers of navigation at the time.
A number of international organisations, such as the International Organization for Migration, also indicated that the number of deaths and missing persons in the Mediterranean in the first half of 2025 reached nearly 434 deaths and 611 missing, while more than 14,100 migrants were intercepted and returned to Libya.
Acute Funding Crisis Threatens the Lives of Refugees in Egypt
The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Egypt is experiencing an unprecedented funding crisis during 2025, which has led to a broad reduction in the programmes and basic services provided to about a million refugees, the majority of them fleeing the war in Sudan. By the end of April, the UNHCR had received only 26% of its target funding, equivalent to only USD 35.8 million out of USD 137.7 million, leaving a funding gap exceeding USD 100 million.
The effects of the crisis included the suspension of non-emergency medical treatment for about 20,000 refugees, the reduction of cash assistance programmes, and the exclusion of 2,000 families from monthly support, in addition to the closure of the Zamalek registration centre, which increased the pressure on the only remaining centre, in the city of 6th of October.
The crisis is mainly due to a sharp reduction in US funding, as the contributions of the United States (the UNHCR’s largest funder) fell by 80% compared with 2024. According to the UNHCR, the average annual support per refugee in Egypt this year is only about USD 37, equivalent to USD 3 per month, despite the number of refugees rising from 288,000 in 2022 to more than 966,000 in 2025.
The UNHCR warned of broad humanitarian and security repercussions, including the spread of diseases, rising poverty and increased irregular migration, calling on the international community to provide immediate and sustainable funding to prevent the crisis from worsening.
Forced Deportation from Eastern Libya: 77 Egyptians Returned in Inhumane Conditions
The Refugees Platform in Egypt expressed its rejection and condemnation of the forced deportation operation carried out by the so-called “Anti-Illegal Immigration Agency” affiliated with the government of eastern Libya on 8 July 2025 via the Amsaad border crossing. The operation included the deportation of 77 migrants of Egyptian nationality, as part of what the platform described as a series of escalating violations targeting Egyptian migrants in eastern Libya.
According to the information documented by the platform, the deportees were transported in closed trucks lacking the most basic conditions of safety and dignity, which exposed their lives and safety to grave danger, especially given the high temperatures in the border area during the summer. The platform considers that this method of deportation constitutes a flagrant violation of human dignity and of the international standards relating to the treatment of migrants.
The platform also stresses that mass deportation without an individual assessment of each case violates the principle of non-refoulement stipulated in the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees. This measure exposes individuals who may be in need of international protection (including potential victims of human trafficking or asylum seekers) to the risk of disappearance or abuse in their country of origin.
