The Egyptian Center Requests the Release of 20 Detainees: Exceeded the Two-Year Pretrial Detention Period
The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights has submitted a request to the State Security Prosecution, calling for the immediate release of 20 pretrial detainees held in Liman Abu Zaabal 2 in connection with Case No. 330 of 2022, Supreme State Security. The Center emphasizes that their detention has exceeded the maximum legal limits stipulated by the Criminal Procedure Law, thereby necessitating their release.
The list of detainees includes: Ahmed Khairy Mohamed Saleh, Al-Hussaini Farghaly Osman, Mostafa El-Shenawy Abdel Fattah, Mostafa Ibrahim El-Sayed, Tarek Abu El-Maaref Mohamed, Abdel Fattah Murad Abdel Fattah, Islam Mohamed Mohamed Metwally, Abu Bakr Ali El-Sayed, Mohamed Saleem Ibrahim, Taha Ahmed Abdel Rahim Abdel Tawab, Makram El-Sayed El-Sayed Gomaa, Ahmed Mohamed Moussa Abdel Fattah, Mohamed El-Sayed Mohamed Osman, Abdel Rahman Mohamed Atiya, Mahmoud Reda Mengoud, Mostafa Sayed Abdel Hamid, Arafat Abdel Aziz Mahmoud, Mohamed Ady Abdel Hamid Mousely, Mahmoud Mostafa Ali, and Mahmoud Nasr El-Din Ahmed. They have been detained since March 22 and 23, 2022.
The Center highlighted that pretrial detention must be temporary as per Article 54 of the Egyptian Constitution, and Law No. 145 of 2006 specifies the maximum pretrial detention period as three months, unless the defendant is referred to the competent court within this period.
Article 143 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates that pretrial detention shall not exceed five months in the case of criminal charges, except by order of the competent court for a period not exceeding 45 days, renewable.
In all cases, the pretrial detention period during the preliminary investigation and all stages of the criminal proceedings shall not exceed one-third of the maximum penalty for the deprivation of liberty. This period should not exceed six months in misdemeanors, eighteen months in felonies, and two years if the prescribed penalty for the crime is life imprisonment or death.
The Center’s request is based on the theory of self-nullification in Egyptian law, where a violation of the fundamental guarantees of pretrial detention constitutes a reason for its nullification. The Center pointed out that the continued detention of the accused beyond the maximum period constitutes a flagrant violation of the rights and freedoms guaranteed by law, as pretrial detention is an investigative measure that is, by its nature, supposed to be temporary.
