The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the referral of 64 defendants, divided between two Supreme State Security Docket cases, to trial based on their efforts to support Palestinian rights. Among them is Ahmed Bahgat Ezzat, whom the Public Prosecution considered a "fugitive" defendant, despite his family submitting multiple complaints and petitions to the authorities, including the Public Prosecutor’s office, requesting an investigation into his subjection to enforced disappearance for approximately 19 continuous months.

Last June, EIPR—on behalf of Ezzat's family—submitted a complaint to the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) of the UN Human Rights Council regarding his ongoing disappearance. After reviewing the case details, the UN Working Group contacted the Egyptian government regarding Ezzat on November 12, prior to his referral to trial. Despite all these local and UN complaints, the concerned authorities persist in treating Ezzat as a "fugitive" defendant rather than addressing him as a victim of a blatant violation whose fate must be clarified immediately.

EIPR learned of the referral of the two cases to trial. The first case, No. 2469/2023 (State Security docket), includes 14 people, one of whom is a child. This case emerged in October 2023, coinciding with the outbreak of the Israeli war of extermination against Palestinians in Gaza. Its defendants were arrested following their attempts to demonstrate in support of the Palestinian cause, shortly after President Sisi stated that millions of Egyptians were ready to protest to express their rejection of the forced displacement of Palestinians from Gaza. It should be noted that all 14 defendants have been detained since October 2023. Despite their having spent two years in pre-trial detention—the legal maximum limit—their detention has continued thereafter in blatant violation of the law.

SSSP charged three defendants in this case with joining a terrorist group, and all defendants were charged with participating in an "unauthorized assembly (or gathering)," in violation of the provisions of the Assembly Law No. 10/1914, enacted during the British colonial occupation of Egypt. The Prosecution insists on resorting to this law more than a century after its enactment, as it was never repealed (in contrast with other similar legislation) by the new Protest Law No. 107/2013.

The second case is No. 2627/2024 (State Security docket), for which arrests began in the first half of 2024. A group of individuals was arrested based on their expression of solidarity within a closed group chat on a social media application. The content of the chat group was merely an attempt to collect donations for relief efforts in Gaza. Among the defendants is Ahmed Bahgat Ezzat (a software developer, 34 years old), whom the Prosecution deemed a "fugitive" despite multiple reports and legal petitions from his family indicating his disappearance since May 19, 2024. The family learned from eyewitnesses that their son was arrested from the street in 6th of October City by a plainclothes security force, which took him to an unknown location. The family confirmed that all police stations they inquired at denied his presence and denied the existence of any official reports or outstanding warrants against him at the time. Consequently, the family contacted the Ministry of Interior to enable them to find out their son's place of detention, ensure his safety, and take the necessary legal measures to protect him from any assault or fabricated charges, but have not received any response for nearly 19 months. On the other hand, the family's lawyer reported that the Administrative Court has scheduled a session for February 28 to rule on the lawsuit filed by Ezzat's family seeking disclosure of his place of detention.

The defendants referred to trial are not the only ones facing terrorism charges due to their support for Palestine over the past two years. The number of open cases in this regard has reached 19 cases in the State Security Investigations docket, including 14 cases encompassing over 130 defendants, some of whom remain in detention in violation of the law despite exceeding the maximum limit stipulated in Article 143 of the current Code of Criminal Procedures. Among the defendants are children and elderly individuals, for whom there is no genuine legal justification for their continued detention, in violation of Article 134 of the same law.

EIPR calls upon both the Attorney General Mohamed Shawky. The Minister of Interior, Major General Mahmoud Tawfik, to urgently investigate the matter of Ahmed Bahgat Ezzat and respond to his family's multiple petitions regarding his enforced disappearance, bearing in mind that enforced disappearance is a crime that is not subject to a statute of limitations and cannot be overlooked, even if Egypt has refused to sign the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. EIPR condemns the baseless referral to criminal trial of the 64 defendants who merely expressed or attempted to express  support for Palestine without legal justification and without serious investigation. The violations some of them have endured, culminating with their criminal trial after prolonged detention, can only be interpreted as punishment for exercising their legitimate constitutional right to freedom of expression.