Egypt must end prolonged arbitrary detention, says UN

Egypt must end a practice that allows authorities to bring new charges against individuals when they are about to be released from prison, thereby preventing their release, the United Nations' high Commissioner for human rights said Tuesday. "The Egyptian government must immediately stop this practice of "rotation" and release all those who have been victimized by it," Volker Türk said in a statement.

"It appears to be used to circumvent individuals' rights to liberty, due process and equality before the law," he added. Türk emphasized that the new alleged offenses, often under anti-terrorism laws, were generally unfounded and similar to the charges for which the detainees had already been convicted.

"Most people targeted by the 'rotation' should never have been detained or imprisoned in the first place; the charges against them are often related to the legitimate exercise of their rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly," he pointed out. "This practice has become a tool by which the Egyptian government represses those perceived as critical of or opposed to its policies," Türk said.

He mentioned the case of poet Jalal al-Behairy, who was arbitrarily detained after serving a prison sentence in July 2021 for writing songs and poems criticizing the government. Since then, the poet has faced similar charges in two different cases under the anti-terrorism law and the penal code.

The latest charges were filed last week, when Behairy was questioned by Egypt's state security prosecution, and his detention was extended for at least another 15 days. The U.N. rights office warned that the practice appeared to be "widely used in politically motivated cases," but noted that the lack of transparency made it difficult to assess the full extent of the problem.

In addition to Behairy’s case, Türk said this practice has been used in a number of other high-profile cases, including that of Egyptian-British writer and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.