In its first meeting after the formation of the new government of Prime Minister Mustafa Madbouli on 3 July, the National Dialogue stressed that pretrial detention will be at the top of its human rights discussions during the next round of sessions this summer.

The National Dialogue was launched in 2022 following a call by President Abdel-Fattah Al-Sisi to address Egypt’s diverse political, economic, and social issues.

According to a statement by the dialogue’s board, the second phase of the debate will focus on topics not addressed in the first phase. “These will primarily include legislation regulating pretrial detention, press freedoms and establishing an anti-discrimination commission,” the statement said.

General Coordinator Diaa Rashwan disclosed that the dialogue’s administration had received many draft bills that amended the pretrial detention provisions in the penal code and criminal law. “One such bill was drafted by a parliamentary subcommittee that took charge of amending the Criminal Procedures Law,” Rashwan said, adding that “this should come as good news for all human rights activists who have long called for reducing the maximum duration of pretrial detention and releasing political activists and pretrial detainees who have been held in custody for long periods of time.”

The parliamentary subcommittee tasked with reviewing the pretrial detention laws will hold meetings during the summer recess to prepare its final draft of the Criminal Procedures Law to be put up for debate when parliament reconvenes in October, said Ihab Al-Tamawi, deputy chairman of parliament’s Legislative and Constitutional Affairs Committee.

According to Al-Tamawi, parliament’s subcommittee issued a draft of the proposed new Criminal Procedures Code, adding and amending key provisions, including reducing the maximum duration of pretrial detention.

The new legislation would reduce the maximum period of pretrial detention for misdemeanours from six months to four months, Al-Tamawi said. For felonies, he added, the amendments approved reducing detention from 18 months to 12 months. As for pretrial detention in crimes that carry the death penalty or life imprisonment, he noted that it will be limited to 18 months rather than two years.

Al-Tamawi argued that the reason why the Criminal Procedures Code imposed long durations of pretrial detention was that state officials and MPs saw it as a necessary preventive measure to clamp down on defendants who were involved in terrorist activities and violent crimes. “But now, after Egypt regained stability and the state — through the army and police forces — was able to rid the country of terrorist groups, particularly in North Sinai, many in parliament and the National Dialogue believe that the time has come for the government to amend laws to limit the combined periods of prosecutor and court-ordered detentions prior to trial,” Al-Tamawi said.

He also argued that extended pretrial detention periods were necessary since a state of emergency has been in effect in Egypt since 2013. “But after a new strategy for human rights was adopted in 2019 and the state of emergency was abrogated in 2021, it was necessary to amend the pretrial detention legislations.”

Al-Tamawi noted that ever since President Al-Sisi called for a national dialogue in April 2022, the prosecution has released more than 1,500 pretrial detainees, and the president pardoned dozens serving prison sentences.

Essam Shiha, a member of the National Council for Human Rights, said the authorities regularly detained defendants starting from the initial investigation through all the stages of criminal judicial proceedings. The law, added Shiha, limited the combined periods of prosecutor and court-ordered detentions prior to trial to six months in cases of misdemeanours, 18 months for felonies, and two years if it involves the death penalty or life imprisonment.

After pretrial detention reached its legal limit without a conviction, Shiha said the law required authorities to release the accused immediately but rights groups claimed authorities regularly detained those accused beyond the pretrial detention limit. “Now rights groups have high hopes that pretrial detention legislation would be radically amended to reflect a new philosophy; that is we should view pretrial detention as just a precaution rather than punishment,” said Shiha.

Al-Tamawi argued that other amendments to the Criminal Procedures Code will provide those convicted of a felony with additional opportunities to appeal a ruling before a final verdict is issued. “Individuals convicted by a criminal court will now have the right to an additional appellate trial before their appeal is reviewed by the Court of Cassation whose rulings are final and cannot be appealed,” said Al-Tamawi. Similar provisions apply to individuals convicted in absentia for a felony. Moreover, they still have the right to a retrial before the Criminal Court once they either turn themselves in or are apprehended by the authorities.

“All of these legislative amendments reflect a new human rights strategy that aims to limit freedom-restricting penalties and provide guarantees for fair trials,” Al-Tamawi said.

Ahmed Ragheb, deputy rapporteur of the National Dialogue’s Human Rights Committee, said the amendment to the Criminal Procedures Law and other legislation regulating pretrial detention “reflects the state’s keenness and seriousness to achieve a progressive step in the area of human rights”.

Ragheb notes that Article 54 of Egypt’s 2014 constitution states that pretrial detention is an important legal procedure but with the proviso that it is implemented for an exceptional period of time and in cases that are considered a threat to society or national security.

Ragheb also believes that the new amendments to the pretrial detention laws will take some time before they go into effect. In the meantime, he said, the national dialogue’s sessions should give local human rights activists an opportunity to voice their opinions about pretrial detention and how it should be limited or even to find alternatives.

Al-Tamawi said that one proposed legislative amendment provides guarantees that while in pretrial detention, defendants are not tortured or physically coerced and have the right to seek the help of a lawyer plus the right to file a grievance before the court.

* A version of this article appears in print in the 18 July, 2024 edition of Al-Ahram Weekly