The first half of year 2018 has witnessed exacerbating apprehension and detention of politicians, journalists, bloggers, and human rights activists against the backdrop of their political activism as well as expressing their opinions freely. This came in conjunction with el-Sisi’s second presidential term.
Egyptian Front was able to monitor the arrest of 144 person distributed over 7 cases where they were interrogated and accused by State Security Prosecution of publishing false news and joining a group established against the law. These charges are widely known to be loose and subject to the discretion of the investigation authorities.
This report aims to examine the nature of these recent arrests through shedding the light on these 7 cases investigated by Supreme State Security Prosecution. The cases, in a chronological order, are as following: Case no. 977 for the year 2017 and cases no. 441, 467,482,621,718,734 for the year 2018 and examining the legislative context that accompanied the arrests as well as violations that jeopardized the rights of the accused as guaranteed by the constitution and international conventions.