The National Dialogue Board of Trustees this week began receiving proposals on amending pretrial detention provisions. National Dialogue General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan told reporters two sessions on pretrial detention had already been held on 23 July.

“We discussed the issue from five perspectives: the duration of pretrial detention, alternatives to pretrial detention, the status of individuals currently held in detention pending trial, financial compensation for individuals wrongly detained, and procedures related to those released after pretrial detention such as travel bans,” said Rashwan.

The sessions were attended by legal experts, activists, and representatives of political forces.

Tarek Radwan, chairman of the House of Representatives’ Human Rights Committee, said the current focus of National Dialogue debate was on amendments to pretrial detention provisions in the Criminal Procedures Law.

“In accordance with Egypt’s 2019 human rights strategy, changes to the law aim to limit the duration of pretrial detention and provide guarantees that while in pretrial detention defendants are not tortured or physically coerced and have the right to consult a lawyer and file a grievance before the court,” said Radwan.

On 18 July, ahead of MP’s three-month summer recess, House Speaker Hanafi Gebali directed the Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee to meet in September to discuss a draft bill regulating criminal procedures which Gebali says will not only limit pretrial detention periods but speed up the settlement of lawsuit.

Addressing one of the 23 July sessions Ihab Al-Tamawi, deputy chairman of the House’s Constitutional Affairs Committee, said the joint government-parliamentary committee proposing amendments to the Criminal Procedures Law would reduce the maximum period of pretrial detention for misdemeanours from six months to four months and for felonies from 18 months to 12. Pretrial detention for crimes that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment will be reduced from 24 to 18 months.

According to Al-Tamawi, the committee also proposed alternatives to the pretrial detention, including house arrest, noting that the current Criminal Procedures law was passed 74 years ago and is no longer fit for purpose.

Journalist Mohamed Salmawy, a member of the Board of Trustees, said “the National Dialogue’s efforts have already led prosecution authorities to release more than 1,500 pretrial detainees and the president has pardoned dozens serving prison sentences.”

On 22 July, in a move welcomed by the National Dialogue administration, the Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the release of 79 pretrial detainees. Salmawy said the release of the detainees represented a step towards building a society characterised by justice and tolerance and would help create a new climate of political openness.

In addition to pretrial detention, the National Dialogue is focused on government plans to replace food subsidies with cash payments, an issue which Rashwan says has been raised by many political parties who warn the move could trigger street protests.

In his policy statement before the House of Representatives on 8 July, Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli raised the possibility of replacing in-kind subsidies delivered via ration cards with means-tested cash payments. Subsidies are expected to cost LE636 billion in FY 2024-25, with bread subsidies alone costing LE100 billion, figures which Madbouli warned are unsustainable.

National Dialogue trustee and MP Talaat Abdel-Qawi told Al-Ahram Weekly that before the National Dialogue begins discussions of the merits of cash payments vs in-kind subsidies “we must first get accurate figures from the government on food subsidy allocations and what is being planned in terms of cash payments.”

“We have also asked the government to detail the number of poor and limited-income households that will be eligible for cash payments,” said Abdel-Qawi.

An ad hoc parliamentary committee tasked with reviewing the government’s policy statement said the issue of in-kind subsidies versus cash payments required a comprehensive study listing the advantages and disadvantages of each system and identifying which offered the best protection for poorer citizens.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 1 August, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly