Detention renewals
The 25th of October hearings:
The Criminal Court (First Circuit) renewed the detention of journalist Hamdy Elzaeem for 45 days pending investigations of lawsuit No. 955 of 2020 (Supreme State Security Prosecution), despite having exceeded the maximum period of pretrial detention, as he was arrested on January 4, 2021, from his home, and he has been in custody since that date.
It wasn’t the first time Elzaeem had been arrested and detained; he was arrested before in 2016 while he was at the Journalists Syndicate, and two years later, the Criminal Court replaced his pretrial detention with precautionary measures, represented by his going to the police station in his place of residence for several days weekly, in which continued to do so until he was arrested again against the same accusations, namely, being a part of a terrorist organization with knowledge of its objectives, spreading false news, and using an account on social media to commit a crime.
The Criminal Court (The First Circuit Terrorism) decided to renew the detention of Ahmed El-Toukhy for 45 days in connection with his second case, Case No. 955 of 2020 (Supreme State Security Prosecution).
El-Toukhy is charged with joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and statements that could disturb public security and order, and using a social media account, “Facebook,” to spread false news and information.
On October 25, the Criminal Court (First Circuit) decided to renew the detention of human rights lawyer Ahmed Nazeer El-Helw for 45 days, pending investigations of lawsuit No. 1940 of 2022 (Supreme State Security).
Security forces arrested El-Helw from his house on November 7, in conjunction with the random arrests by the security forces with the increasing calls for demonstrations on November 11; he was illegally detained for 6 days till he appeared before the prosecution against accusations of joining a terrorist group.
