{"id":41658,"date":"2026-08-23T19:43:47","date_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:43:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/?p=41658"},"modified":"2026-08-23T19:43:47","modified_gmt":"2026-08-23T16:43:47","slug":"aftes-newsletter-july-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/afteegypt.org\/en\/advocacy-en\/2026\/08\/23\/41658-afteegypt.html","title":{"rendered":"AFTE’s Newsletter: July 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n\n\n
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The Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression (AFTE) shares with you the research papers, reports, and statements issued over the past month, along with legal updates on cases in which AFTE provides legal support to prisoners of conscience, as well as academics who have faced harassment and security-related prosecutions for expressing their opinions.<\/span><\/p>\n

We always welcome any inquiries or clarifications from everyone, through our social media platforms, or via the following email: info@afteegypt.org<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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Mohamed Abdel Salam, AFTE\u2019s Executive Director, met today with Mounir Satouri, Chair of the European Parliament\u2019s Subcommittee on Human Rights, and the accompanying delegation during the European Parliament Delegation\u2019s visit to Egypt. The meeting took place as part of the ongoing dialogue between independent human rights organizations and Members of the European Parliament.<\/p>\n

During the meeting, Abdel Salam highlighted the continued restrictions imposed on independent civil society organizations, particularly the obstacles preventing them from accessing foreign funding to support their work. He stressed that these administrative and security restrictions severely undermine civil society\u2019s ability to operate and provide essential services to the public.<\/p>\n

Abdel Salam also addressed the ongoing violations of the right to freedom of expression, with particular emphasis on the escalating crackdown on women\u2019s digital expression under the pretext of protecting “Egyptian family values,” underscoring the widening gap between the government’s human rights rhetoric and the reality on the ground.<\/p>\n

He further emphasized that civil society organizations play a vital role in preserving prospects for meaningful political and economic reform by representing diverse communities and their demands, as well as by proposing alternative public policies and draft legislation that can support the executive and legislative authorities in addressing persistent shortcomings in Egypt\u2019s human rights framework.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The paper reveals that Egypt\u2019s efforts to regulate artificial intelligence suffer from clear gaps. Chief among them are the lack of transparency regarding expert participation, limited involvement of parliament and civil society, and the dominance of tech companies in shaping policies. This weakens inclusiveness and makes frameworks resemble closed government approaches, compared to more comprehensive global models such as the EU AI Act. This creates a gap between declared ambitions and practical reality, with the risk that policies become mere slogans without real guarantees for protecting digital rights and privacy.\u00a0To read the full paper<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The paper documents the phenomenon of repression in Egyptian sports media from 2018 to 2026, where the Supreme Media Council and the Media Syndicate use vague laws and regulations to impose sanctions such as bans on appearances, suspension of programs, and license withdrawals, extending even to personal social media accounts. It shows that these sanctions are applied systematically, turning sports media into a space of self-censorship and fear, restricting freedom of expression compared to more independent international experiences.\u00a0To read the full paper<\/a>.<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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The paper analyzes policies regulating digital media in Egypt through the Press and Media Regulation Law and its executive regulations, which imposed a prior licensing system on websites instead of notification. It shows that this system grants the Supreme Media Council broad powers but creates disparities between licensed institutions and independents such as Mada Masr, Fikr Tani, and Al-Manassa, which faced rejection or obstruction of license requests, and sometimes legal prosecutions. The result is an unstable environment for digital journalism, threatening media pluralism and the right to access information, and turning licensing from a regulatory tool into a means of selectivity and control over the media sphere.\u00a0To read the full paper<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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AFTE, along with other human rights organizations, signed a joint statement urging the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release activist, poet, and writer Ahmed Douma. He has been detained since April 2026 and sentenced to one year in prison over an opinion article and social media posts, which rights groups say constitute a blatant violation of freedom of expression. The ruling ignored defense requests and claimed the article contained \u201callegations\u201d against state institutions. Douma previously spent over ten years in prison, faced torture, and after his 2023 presidential pardon was subjected to a travel ban and repeated prosecutions.\u00a0Read More<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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In July, the court upheld the one\u2011year prison sentence against Ahmed Douma, while the trials of six activists, including Marwa Arafa, Mohamed El\u2011Qassas, and Sayed Moshagheb, were postponed, and detention was renewed for nine others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n\n\n\n
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