Over recent months, the European Commission has worked on redefining the concept of “safe countries of origin” at the EU level, as part of a broader package of migration- and asylum-related legislation aimed at reducing irregular migration and addressing the rise in asylum applications to EU Member States based on claims of direct threats to life and human rights in countries of origin. This redefinition has been expanded to include several countries in the Middle East, such as Egypt, as countries where threats to fundamental personal rights and human rights are deemed not to be generalised or widespread enough to endanger citizens’ lives or to substantiate claims of violations.
According to the European Commission proposal Regulation (EU) 2024/1348, which designates Egypt as a safe country of origin for its nationals at the EU level, the human rights situation in Egypt is described as one in which “Human rights challenges in Egypt remain significant, particularly in relation to the protection of fundamental freedoms, governance and the rule of law.” Nevertheless, the proposal maintains that “the political leadership in Egypt has taken steps putting greater emphasis on the importance of the respect for human rights.” In this regard, it refers to the fact that Egypt “abolished the state of emergency.., launched the first ever National Strategy for Human Rights, relaunched the Presidential Amnesty Committee, releasing political prisoners and embarked on a National Dialogue.”
At the same time, the proposal notes that “Egypt has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment.” It further states that Egypt “has declared in its National Strategy for Human Rights its intention to reform the law on” pre-trial detention, to ameliorate detention conditions, to limit the number of crimes punished by death, and to enhance the culture of human rights across all government institutions”.
A closer examination of the human rights situation, the state of the rule of law, and the level of independence of judicial and security institutions, based on reports by independent human rights organisations, reveals a picture that fundamentally contradicts the Commission’s portrayal of “promising steps” toward progress in human rights. In Egypt, these reports demonstrate the continued large-scale targeting of citizens for exercising their lawful rights, directly contradicting the official narrative of improvement. These measures cannot be considered genuine reforms; rather, they are largely cosmetic, general, and vague. Accepting them as such risks endangering the safety of a broad range of individuals and groups in Egypt, including politicised groups, human rights and political actors, civil society activists, and even non-politically active citizens. This risk is compounded by the legalisation and entrenchment of exceptional measures within the justice system, transforming them into routine practices in law-enforcement and rule-of-law institutions.
Despite the adoption of the National Human Rights Strategy and the fact that its timeframe is approaching its end, there is little evidence that the strategy’s commitments have been fulfilled. In terms of legislative reform, the death penalty has remained in force without review for a wide range of crimes in Egypt – up to 104 offences – many of which have not been narrowed or revised. These include politically motivated charges under the Anti-Terrorism Law and the Penal Code, as well as ordinary criminal offences such as drug-related crimes and weapons offences, in addition to the Military Justice Law, whose expanded jurisdiction over civilians – despite its technical nature – raises serious concerns and constitutes a significant threat.
Death sentences have continued to be issued, upheld at various levels of appeal by both civilian and military courts, and carried out in cases of a political nature in the years following the adoption of the strategy. In 2021, a total of 403 death sentences were issued, with 84 executions carried out. In 2022, 538 death sentences were issued, with 30 executions carried out. In 2023, at least 348 death sentences were issued, with a minimum of 8 executions carried out during the same year. In 2024, a total of 380 death sentences were issued, with 13 executions carried out, and 31 individuals sentenced to death in political cases.
The crisis of prolonged and open-ended pretrial detention has persisted, and the National Human Rights Strategy has contributed little to resolving or closing this file. The most that the new Code of Criminal Procedure has achieved is a reduction of pretrial detention periods for misdemeanours to 6 months, and 12 months for felonies. Meanwhile, the core of the problem remains: widespread and prolonged arbitrary detention of individuals for exercising their rights to expression, organisation, and peaceful assembly, the misuse of counter-terrorism legislation against them, and the continued practice of “recycling” defendants into new cases to circumvent the expiry of pretrial detention limits. Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure have further codified the broad powers of the Public Prosecution to renew pretrial detention without meaningful judicial oversight, and have allowed suspects to be held in rehabilitation centers / prisons pending investigation when their lawyer is unavailable, without counting this period toward pretrial detention—facilities about which independent human rights organisations have repeatedly expressed concern due to ongoing violations.
Regarding the Presidential Pardon Committee and the National Dialogue, both of which raised hopes for resolving the political detainees file and integrating civil society and human rights actors into dialogue, their contributions have varied since their launch in 2022. While 2,413 detainees were released in State Security cases related to freedom of expression, between mid-2022 and the end of 2025, 6,899 additional citizens were detained in similar cases, nearly three times the number released. With the decline or effective suspension of the Pardon Committee’s work, a committee member publicly acknowledged that its decisions are based on political criteria that reproduce the status quo, notably excluding anyone affiliated with the Muslim Brotherhood from the possibility of pardon, an especially problematic condition given the widespread and generic nature of this accusation in political and opinion-related cases.
Recent amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure constitute a setback to the rule of law, justice institutions, and citizens’ rights. Despite presidential intervention calling for legislative review following widespread objections to provisions undermining the rights to defence, legal protection, and property, the final amendments upheld the principle of interrogating defendants in the absence of their legal counsel, “in cases of necessity”, without invalidating procedures or trials. The amendments also empowered judicial police officers delegated by the prosecution to initiate interrogations, granted the Public Prosecution special powers to intercept and monitor communications online without judicial oversight, violated international standards on the right to privacy by allowing repeated renewal of surveillance orders without constraints, and granted special immunity to public officials, law-enforcement officers, and prison authorities, while further expanding justifications for pretrial detention.
Security campaigns and judicial targeting continue to affect broad segments of the population, increasingly extending to new groups such as refugees, non-political citizens, lawyers, human rights defenders, and even minors.
The prosecution of minors has expanded, with at least 17 documented cases, where children were accused of joining terrorist groups through electronic gaming applications. These minors were subjected to enforced disappearance and detention in facilities not designated for juveniles, including adult prisons.
Refugees fleeing armed conflict similarly face pursuit and systematic violations, whether near Egypt’s borders or within urban areas, including arbitrary detention, inclusion in human-trafficking cases, and subsequent forced deportation to countries experiencing armed conflict. Estimates indicate that up to 18,000 refugees were deported in 2024 alone, with these practices gaining a degree of legal cover following the adoption of the new Asylum Regulation.
Repression against lawyers, and human rights defenders has also intensified. In August 2025, the EFHR documented the referral of at least 92 lawyers and human rights defenders to terrorism felony courts across 25 State Security cases, solely for providing legal defence to political detainees. Indictments explicitly treated the act of legal defence as evidence of shared political affiliation, undermining the foundations of legal practice in Egypt and obstructing access to justice.
Authorities have continued to arrest non-politicised citizens for online criticism of economic conditions, poor public services, or human rights violations affecting their families, or merely due to familial ties to political figures, in violation of the principle of individual criminal responsibility. Transnational repression against political opponents, journalists, and human rights defenders abroad has also increased.
Mass arrests followed protests in 2019 and 2020, renewed crackdowns in October–November 2022 surrounding calls to protest during COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, and further arrests in July 2024 linked to criticism of rising living costs. Dozens of citizens were also targeted between late 2023 and 2024 for participation in opposition electoral campaigns or for protests in solidarity with Palestine and opposition to the war on Gaza.
Reports continue to document systematic torture. Since the adoption of the National Human Rights Strategy in late 2021, complaints regarding ill-treatment, denial of medical care, and degrading detention conditions persist, leading to repeated hunger strikes and, in some cases, threats of suicide. Human rights organisations documented 15 suicide attempts in a single week at Badr 3 Prison.
Deaths in detention, largely due to medical neglect, remain widespread. At least 50 deaths were documented in detention facilities during the previous year, including 25 deaths in police stations alone between June 2024 and January 2025. The UN Committee Against Torture, following its review of Egypt in 2023, confirmed the prevalence of torture, including in newly established detention facilities.
The Egyptian authorities continue to deny the existence of enforced disappearance and refuse to accede to the International Convention for the Protection of All Persons from Enforced Disappearance. Between August 2022–2023, at least 821 individuals were subjected to enforced disappearance. Some cases involved detention for up to three years, while others resurfaced after six years before appearing before the State Security Prosecution in 2025.
Freedom of expression continues to be curtailed under laws such as the Cybercrime Law No. 175/2018, targeting ordinary citizens and content creators under charges of threatening “societal values.” In July – August 2025, at least 29 individuals, 19 women and one child, were arrested under such charges, alongside hundreds of non-politicised citizens accused of spreading “false news” or terrorism-related offences due to online criticism of economic deterioration.
Despite the lifting of the state of emergency, its effects persist through exceptional courts and legislation, including the continued trial of civilians before military courts under the amended Law on the Protection of Vital Facilities, and the ongoing application of Anti-Terrorism Law No. 94/2015 and the Terrorist Entities Law No. 8/2015, enabling asset freezes and undermining the business and investment environment.
On the other hand, the State Security Prosecution and terrorism Circuit courts, operating as exceptional judicial mechanisms, continue to function and to prosecute citizens on the basis of cases related to opinion, expression, organisation, and peaceful assembly. Individuals are pushed into politically motivated trials that lack the guarantees of fair trial standards, by charging them in cases framed around terrorism-related accusations, subjecting them to prolonged pretrial detention, “recycling” them into new cases with similar charges, and sentencing them to harsh penalties.
In light of these systematic violations and the widespread incidents with serious consequences – met only with limited, cosmetic improvements – and amid escalating threats to the indicators of the rule of law and justice institutions that endanger the rights of all citizens and others present on Egyptian territory, within an increasingly entrenched authoritarian framework, this framework benefits from geopolitical shifts and regional equations and interests linked to policies aimed at reducing or preventing migration. This, in turn, contributes to entrenching authoritarian rule at the expense of citizens’ rights and freedoms, their free voices, and the aspirations of younger generations seeking representation of their interests, improved public policies, a stronger socio-economic structure, and the peaceful transfer of power.
In this context, the Egyptian Front for Human Rights calls on the various institutions of the European Union, in the course of their deliberations and voting on amendments to the draft decision, to reconsider Egypt’s designation as a “safe country of origin” for its nationals, including independent politicians, opposition figures, human rights defenders, and even ordinary citizens who criticise government policies. This call comes in light of the rapid deterioration of economic, social conditions, and the deepening erosion of the rule of law and the independence of security and judicial institutions, despite superficial, cosmetic measures and public-relations campaigns promoting an alleged improvement in the human rights situation. The EFHR further stresses the need for EU institutions to adopt more realistic and detailed indicators that address root causes and to pursue a long-term approach in their engagement with the human rights situation in Egypt.