Criminal Courts
On September 3, the Criminal Court (the Council Chamber) renewed lawyer Amr Nohan’s detention for 45 days in connection with lawsuit No. 741 of 2019 (Supreme State Security Prosecution). Nohan was listed in this case after his arrest on June 10, 2018; he faces charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.
September 4 hearings:
The Criminal Court (First Terrorism Criminal Circuit) renewed the detention of both journalist Hamdy Elzaeem and Mohamed Elsaeed Mohamed Salama for 45 days in connection with case No. 955 of 2020 (Supreme State Security Prosecution). Elzaeem and Salama face charges of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its objectives, spreading false news, and using a social media account to commit a crime.
The same circuit of the Criminal Court also renewed the detention of Ahmed Mohamed Moussa Abdel Khaleq and El-Hussaini Farghaly for 45 days in connection with case No. 330 of 2022 (State Security).
The Supreme State Security Prosecution interrogated Farghaly for the first time on April 7, after he posted videos on his Youtube channel discussing the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam. Farghly and Abdel Khaleq face charges of joining a terrorist group, spreading false news, and inciting a terrorist act.
In a similar context, the Criminal Court (The Council Chamber) renewed the detention of lawyer Mohamed Elsayed Abdel-Fatah, who suffers from leukemia, for 45 days in connection with case No. 627 of 2021 (Supreme State Security Prosecution).
Abdel-Fatah was arrested on the 1st of March 2021; he faces charges of joining a terrorist group.
On September 6, the Criminal Court (The Council Chamber) renewed Ahmed Hassanein Mohamed Moussa’s detention for 45 days, pending investigations into Case No. 1475 of 2019 (Supreme State Security).
Security forces arrested Moussa in October of 2019; he was unlawfully detained for 48 days before he was brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution which charged him with joining a terrorist group, committing a financing crime, spreading false news, and misusing social media.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution
On September 6, the Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of the two brothers, Ashraf and Ahmed Ashry, for 15 days in connection with investigations of case No. 440 of 2022 (Supreme State Security), In which they’re listed against the backdrop of simulating a video on Tiktok. Both of them face charges of joining a terrorist group and spreading false news.
On September 7, the Prosecution released the four Mada Masr female journalists, editor-in-chief Lina Attalah, on a bail of 20,000 EGP, Rana Mamdouh, Bissan Kassab, and Sarah Seif Eldin, on a bail of 5,000 EGP for each, in connection with Case No. 19 of 2022 (Cairo Investigations).
The Prosecution summoned the four journalists for interrogations against tens of reports filed by a number of the MPs of the Nation’s Future Party against them for their participation in writing Mada Masr’s newsletter of August 31, which contained a piece of news about the state’s oversight bodies monitored financial irregularities by a bunch of the party’s prominent members that could lead to their dismissal from their positions.
The four journalists faced charges of spreading false news that would disturb public peace and harm the public interest, causing disturb by using social media, insulting and slandering the MPs of the Nation’s Future Party, and an additional charge to the editor-in-chief, Lina Atallah, of creating a website without a license.
On September 8, the Supreme State Security Prosecution released Ahmed Maher Ezzat, known as “Rigo,” under the guarantee of his place of residence in connection with his second case, No. 855 of 2020 Supreme State Security.
Ezzat was arrested from his workplace in May 2020, pending a different case; he faced charges of joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its aims, and using social media to commit the crime of spreading false news.
In the same context, on September 9, the Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to release Belal Abdel Razek under the guarantee of his place of residence after three years in pretrial detention in connection with Case No. 488 of 2019 (Supreme State Security Prosecution).
Abdel Razek was arrested in March 2019 for participating in a protest in Alexandria; he faced charges of joining a terrorist group and promoting its aims, spreading false news, and misusing social media to achieve that goal.
