{"id":17280,"date":"2025-09-27T13:07:46","date_gmt":"2025-09-27T11:07:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/?p=17280"},"modified":"2026-10-24T15:03:43","modified_gmt":"2026-10-24T13:03:43","slug":"sisi-returns-criminal-procedure-bill-to-parliament-as-rights-groups-demand-a-full-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/sisi-returns-criminal-procedure-bill-to-parliament-as-rights-groups-demand-a-full-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Sisi Returns Criminal Procedure Bill to Parliament as Rights Groups Demand a Full Review"},"content":{"rendered":"

On 21 September, President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi decided not to ratify the Criminal Procedure Law and to return it to parliament for discussion, in response to the appeals he had received urging him not to pass it in its current form. The Presidency’s <\/span>statement <\/span><\/a>explained that the articles objected to relate to considerations of governance, clarity and realism, which necessitates re-examining them in order to achieve further guarantees established for the inviolability of the home and for the rights of the accused before the investigating and trial authorities.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is in addition to increasing the alternatives to pretrial detention in order to limit the expansion of recourse to it, and removing any ambiguity in the wording that might lead to multiple interpretations or to problems when applied on the ground. The statement also pointed to the importance of allowing sufficient time for the ministries and relevant bodies to implement the mechanisms and models newly introduced in the draft law and to become familiar with its provisions, ensuring that they are applied accurately and smoothly, in order to achieve swift justice within the framework of the constitution and the law.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Criminal Procedure Law in Egypt is one of the oldest laws regulating criminal work, as its roots go back to the 1950s, and despite being amended several times, it has remained the subject of wide criticism from human rights advocates.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, the president’s decision was met with relief and a <\/span>welcome<\/span><\/a> in political and rights circles, which considered that returning the law to parliament represents a partial victory for their continuous demands for the amendment of the controversial articles. On the other hand, some saw that the step may also carry political dimensions, especially as it comes shortly before electoral milestones and amid mounting criticism of the country’s record on public freedoms.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last April, the House of Representatives hastened to approve the Criminal Procedure Law after a discussion that lasted for months and began in August 2024. Despite appeals and demands for substantial amendments to be made to the draft submitted by the government, parliament went ahead with approving it, ignoring the wide criticism issued by civil society organisations and political forces, as well as by the Egyptian Journalists Syndicate.<\/span><\/p>\n

During its discussion in the House of Representatives, the draft law was subjected to wide criticism from Egyptian and international civil society organisations, from the<\/span> Journalists Syndicate<\/span><\/a>, as well as from a large number of special rapporteurs of the United Nations Human Rights Council.<\/span><\/p>\n

Last May, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights issued a <\/span>statement<\/span><\/a> in which it called on the Egyptian president to “carefully consider the proposed draft Code of Criminal Procedure\u2026 before granting any approval, in order to ensure its full compliance with Egypt’s international human rights obligations.”<\/span><\/p>\n

On the other hand, twenty Egyptian and international civil society organisations <\/span>welcomed<\/span><\/a> President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi’s decision not to ratify the draft Criminal Procedure Law and to return it to the House of Representatives to examine the objections raised about its articles.<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>campaign<\/span><\/a> “Towards a Fair Criminal Procedure Law”, in which a number of male and female lawyers took part alongside the Civil Democratic Movement, had launched <\/span>appeals<\/span><\/a> to the Presidency demanding that the law not be ratified. The campaign justified its demands by the existence of articles that it considers unconstitutional, in breach of the principles of justice and in violation of the right of defence.<\/span><\/p>\n

For its part, the House of Representatives <\/span> announced<\/span><\/a> that it would hold an emergency session on 1 October to discuss the matter, while the Speaker of the House invited the Prime Minister to deliver a statement clarifying the government’s position on the draft law and the anticipated amendments to it.<\/span><\/p>\n

The scheduled session will see Prime Minister Dr Mostafa Madbouly present the disputed articles of the draft Criminal Procedure Law. This will be followed by the Speaker of the House referring the letter addressed by the President of the Republic regarding the objections, along with the statement that the Prime Minister will deliver before the MPs, to the General Committee to discuss it and prepare a report on it, to be presented later in the plenary session.<\/span><\/p>\n

This is in accordance with Article (27) of the <\/span>Internal Regulations<\/span><\/a> of the House of Representatives, which stipulates: “The General Committee may invite the Prime Minister or any member of the government, or the heads of independent bodies and oversight agencies, or others, in order to hear them whenever it deems this necessary. The committee may also invite a member of the House to present an important or urgent matter, or to seek clarification from the member on a matter before it. The Speaker of the House shall extend the invitation based on what the committee decides.”<\/span><\/p>\n

In this context, human rights lawyer Ahmed Mokhtar, of the Centre for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance, speaking to “Zawia3”, welcomes the president’s decision and the return of the draft Criminal Procedure Law to parliament, commenting: “A positive and realistic step”, and considers that it averted a crisis that would have arisen had the law been passed in its current form, because of the “constitutional and rights defects” it contains, which threaten the rights of the defence and the inviolability of homes and expose its provisions to challenge before the Constitutional Court years later.<\/span><\/p>\n

Mokhtar adds that the presidential objections focused on only eight articles, but the law as a whole requires a comprehensive review, stressing that the current opportunity should not be limited to amending the articles objected to, but should extend to reconsidering more than fifty controversial articles for which rights organisations and legal initiatives have previously submitted alternatives and different formulations.<\/span><\/p>\n

The human rights lawyer points out that the law completely overlooked the gender dimension, as it did not take into account considerations specific to women, such as exempting pregnant women from pretrial detention or providing mandatory protection for witnesses and whistleblowers in cases of sexual violence and harassment, even though civil society organisations had submitted comprehensive drafts on the protection of whistleblowers and witnesses. He also criticises the disregard of the recommendations of the National Dialogue, which the president himself called for, considering that ignoring those recommendations was one of the causes of the current crisis.<\/span><\/p>\n

While the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, as part of a broad coalition of Egyptian and international rights organisations, welcomed the President of the Republic’s decision to refuse to sign the draft Criminal Procedure Law and to return it to the House of Representatives to “examine the objections” to a number of its articles, the Initiative believes that the House has a rare opportunity to reconsider the philosophy of the law as a whole, rather than being content with partial amendments to some of its provisions, in a way that ensures genuine societal and political consensus on a law that is regarded as complementary to the constitution and a fundamental pillar of the criminal justice system.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Initiative pointed out in a<\/span> paper<\/span><\/a> it issued that the main problem in the draft law is not limited to the presence of articles that are flawed or lack guarantees, despite its containing some positive provisions, but lies in the philosophy governing it, which reflects a political and security orientation towards entrenching and codifying the status quo, with the systematic violations and structural defects it carries. These are crises that have, over the past years, ravaged the criminal justice system in Egypt and squandered the rights of litigants, especially defendants in criminal cases, according to the Initiative.<\/span><\/p>\n

On this basis, the Initiative put forward four governing principles which, in its paper, it considered must be at the heart of the philosophy of any amendment to the system of criminal rules and procedures, away from entrenching existing conditions or patching up what exists. The principles include: “the separation of powers and the strengthening of mutual oversight between judicial institutions, equality of opportunity between the prosecution and the defendants, in addition to the presumption of innocence and the right to trial within a reasonable period of time, as well as the necessity of restoring the original balance between the rule and the exception.”<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

Recommended reading: Rights Advocates Propose Amendments to Guarantee the Fairness of the Criminal Procedure Law<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

A Comprehensive Review<\/b><\/h1>\n

The draft Criminal Procedure Law was received from the House of Representatives on 26 August 2025 with a request for its promulgation, and the President of the Republic decided to return it to parliament before the expiry of the constitutional period of thirty days, based on Article (123) of the Egyptian Constitution, which stipulates: “The President of the Republic has the right to promulgate laws or to object to them. If the President of the Republic objects to a draft law approved by the House of Representatives, he shall return it to the House within thirty days of the House notifying him of it. If the draft law is not returned within this period, it shall be considered a law and promulgated. If it is returned to the House within the aforementioned period, and the House approves it again by a two-thirds majority of its members, it shall be considered a law and promulgated.”<\/p>\n

\n

The president directed his objections to a number of the draft’s articles, with local press sources indicating that the most prominent of them are eight articles. Among them is Article (48), relating to defining cases of danger, which stipulates: “A judicial police officer may search the accused in cases in which it is legally permissible to arrest him, and if the accused is a female, her search must be carried out by a female delegated by the judicial police officer.”<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

The objections also included Article (105), which provides for enabling the accused’s lawyer to review the investigation a sufficient time before the interrogation or confrontation, while allowing the Public Prosecution to restrict this right in some cases. The objection focused on the need to set clearer controls for the time period granted for review, and to ensure that the lawyer’s presence does not lead to obstructing the course of the investigation.<\/p>\n

As for Article (112), which regulates the Public Prosecution’s issuing of pretrial detention orders for a period not exceeding four days when specific circumstances are present, such as fear of flight or of influencing witnesses, the objection to it focused on the absence of a clear maximum limit for the period of placement in custody, especially in cases where it is impossible to interrogate the accused due to the absence of his lawyer.<\/p>\n

In Article (114), which grants the prosecution the right to replace precautionary measures with pretrial detention if the accused violates the conditions imposed on him, the presidential objection called for providing real alternatives to pretrial detention, in a way that reduces reliance on it and strengthens legal guarantees.<\/p>\n

The objection also covered Article (123), relating to the periods of pretrial detention in misdemeanour and felony cases, as it stressed the need to bring the detained accused before the Public Prosecutor whenever a period of ninety days elapses, with the aim of reviewing the legality of continuing the detention.<\/p>\n

In Article (231), which regulates the particulars of judicial notification and permits notifications by telephone or electronically according to a mechanism determined by the Minister of Justice, the objection stressed the need to preserve traditional paper notification as a permanent practical alternative in the event that electronic means break down, ensuring the protection of the rights of the parties to the case.<\/p>\n

The objections also extended to Article (411), which restricts the right to request reconsideration in some cases of appeal to the Public Prosecutor, whether on his own initiative or at the request of the parties concerned. This restriction was considered a diminution of the guarantees of the defence, as it deprives the accused of submitting the request directly, particularly in the event of his absence or the absence of his representative from the appeal sessions.<\/p>\n

In this context, Dr Ayman Abou El-Ela, head of the parliamentary bloc of the Reform and Development Party, tells “Zawia3” that the party made substantive interventions regarding Article (411), stressing that the presence of the accused or his lawyer at appeal sessions constitutes a fundamental pillar of a fair trial that guarantees constitutional rights.<\/p>\n

Abou El-Ela adds that the Presidency’s objection to this article opens the door to strengthening the guarantees relating to the rights of the accused, which is in line with the priorities of the party, which places the human rights file at the top of its parliamentary agenda.<\/p>\n

He believes that the president’s return of the draft law to the House of Representatives represents a real opportunity to reconsider the amendments submitted by the majority and opposition blocs alike, in order to reach a balanced formulation that takes into account the interest of justice and of all parties concerned.<\/p>\n

Abou El-Ela concludes his statement by stressing that the party’s objections were not limited to the eight articles referred to in the Presidency’s statement, but extended to the philosophy of the law as a whole, explaining that the parliamentary discussions revealed observations relating to more than 500 articles, which calls for a serious and comprehensive dialogue before the law is issued in its final form.<\/p>\n

Recommended reading: A Parliament Searching for Its Audience: No One Knows the Date of the Elections<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/b><\/h1>\n

Calls to Review the Philosophy of the Law<\/h1>\n

For his part, human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, speaking to “Zawia3”, believes that the President of the Republic’s decision to return the draft Criminal Procedure Law to parliament represents an implicit acknowledgement of the validity of the legal and rights objections raised by civil society organisations and legal experts over the past months. El-Baqer affirms that the main problem is not limited to only eight articles, but lies in the general philosophy with which the law was drafted, which produced provisions that restrict rights and freedoms instead of protecting them.<\/p>\n

He adds that the rights community had previously submitted comprehensive alternatives, including a legal paper that he took part in preparing with a number of experts, among them Negad El-Borai, Ahmed Ragheb and Khaled Ali, which was adopted by the Journalists Syndicate, as well as a complete alternative draft prepared by the campaign “For a Fair Criminal Procedure Law”. However, according to El-Baqer, these initiatives were not taken with sufficient seriousness by the legislative authority.<\/p>\n

El-Baqer calls for postponing the discussion of the draft law to the next parliament, which is scheduled to be elected in November, stressing that rushing to pass cosmetic amendments will lead to reproducing the same crisis. He says: “The current law is in place and is being applied, and we do not need haste that repeats the same mistakes. What we need is a genuine societal and legal discussion that ensures the new law becomes a constitution for rights and freedoms, not merely cosmetic amendments.”<\/p>\n

Lawyer Nada Saad El-Din, one of the participants in the campaign “Towards a Fair Criminal Procedure Law”, speaking to “Zawia3”, agrees with what El-Baqer put forward regarding the legislative philosophy of the law, particularly with regard to the rights of the defence, fair trial guarantees and the use of technology in litigation procedures. She considers that the amendments granted broad powers to the Public Prosecution and judicial police officers at the expense of the rights of the accused.<\/p>\n

She believes that one of the reasons for the Presidency’s objection may be “the impossibility of implementing some provisions”, such as remote trials via video, pointing out that this procedure conflicts with the right of defence, which requires the lawyer to be present beside his client, something that is difficult to achieve in cases where the accused is in detention, or if the lawyer has more than one session at the same time.<\/p>\n

She also stresses the need not to rush the issuance of the law, in order to avoid repeating failures, affirming that societal dialogue with the Journalists Syndicate, the Bar Association, the parties and the rights forces is the optimal way to reach a fair and comprehensive formulation that ensures a balance between security and justice.<\/p>\n

Between an emergency session of the House of Representatives and mounting political and rights pressure demanding no haste, the future of the draft Criminal Procedure Law remains open to more than one scenario. While the president’s step is interpreted as a response to the demands of civil society and an acknowledgement of the existence of constitutional and rights defects, the fear remains that the amendments will be confined to a cosmetic scope, without a substantive review of the governing legislative philosophy.<\/p>\n

With the parliamentary elections approaching and the debate intensifying over the state of public freedoms in the country, the upcoming parliamentary session appears to be a real test of the state’s ability to open a genuine legislative dialogue that places rights and justice at the top of its priorities.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

President El-Sisi’s decision to return the Criminal Procedure Law to parliament came after wide rights criticism that demanded substantial amendments to more than fifty articles, amid warnings against passing cosmetic amendments that entrench violations rather than limit them<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":14027,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[390],"tags":[],"kateb":[728],"class_list":["post-17280","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-human-rights","kateb-shimaa-hamdy"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/09\/\u0646\u0633\u062e\u0629-\u0645\u0646-\u0641\u0635\u0644-\u0645\u062e\u062f\u0631\u0627\u062a.png","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17280"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":24064,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17280\/revisions\/24064"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14027"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17280"},{"taxonomy":"kateb","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/zawia3.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/kateb?post=17280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}