2024-09-25 17:47:00
The case of jailed Egyptian-British political activist Alaa Abdel Fattah raises questions about pretrial detention in Egypt, how it is carried out and the law that governs it.
Lawyers and family members of the activist, who rose to prominence during the 2011 protests against former President Hosni Mubarak’s rule, have asked that he be released from custody on the 29th of this month as his five-year prison term is set to expire. Release him.
Khalid Ali, the human rights lawyer representing Abdel Fattah, told the Al-Hurra website that the public prosecution did not take into account the period of pre-trial detention he had spent when applying the sentence for imprisonment in the case registered against him, namely Two years.
His mother Laila Soueif wrote on Facebook: “They released Alaa Abdel Fattah on September 29, the day his sentence ended. .
I wrote His sister Mona Saif: “By September 29, Allah will have been imprisoned for 5 years. We hope that the law will be enforced and Allah will be free and reunited with his son Khalid.”
Abdel Fattah is one of the symbols of the 2011 revolution that toppled Mubarak. He was arrested in 2019 and sentenced to five years in prison in 2021 for spreading false news related to a tweet on Twitter (currently X) indicating the death of an inmate.
Abdel Fattah, who obtained British citizenship in prison, went on a public hunger strike for seven months to force him to demand a meeting with British embassy officials.
His lawyer Khaled Ali explained on his Facebook account that he was arrested on September 28, 2019 and then referred to the Supreme National Security Prosecutor’s Office, which investigated him and charged him with He joined terrorist groups, published and broadcast fake news, and abused his power.
According to lawyers, the misdemeanor mentioned in the case was dropped in a new misdemeanor case in October 2021 that also named two other activists, Muhammad Baqir and Muhammad Oxygen. (Muhammad Oxygen), the new case was registered as no.
Ali said he was being tried in a misdemeanor case for sharing a post by an activist who described the death of an inmate at Scorpion Prison under the influence of torture.
He spoke of irregularities that undermined the investigation into the case, namely the failure of lawyers to obtain copies of case documents, the failure of the court to respond to Abdel Fattah’s request to issue a special authorization to bring the dispute, and to hear witness statements, including Family members of prisoners who “died from torture.”
He said in the post that the court made its ruling without responding to any requests or hearing arguments from the defense. jail.
Since the trial fell under the highest national security emergency, the case was sent to the Military Superintendent for approval and adjudication, which was approved on January 3, 2022.
According to the lawyer, on September 29, Al Fatah’s contract will expire for five years and he will be sentenced to two years in prison.
Article 482 of the Criminal Procedure Law stipulates: “The term of fixed-term imprisonment shall be calculated from the date of arrest of the offender based on the ruling that must be executed, and consideration shall be given to reducing the period of pretrial detention and the period of arrest.”
Article 483 provides: “If a defendant is acquitted of a crime committed in pretrial detention, his or her sentence shall be deducted from the sentence of other crimes that the defendant may have committed or investigated during pretrial detention.”
Article 484 stipulates: “If a defendant is sentenced to multiple detention penalties, the penalty with a lighter bail period shall be deducted first.”
Egypt’s pre-trial detention process for activists, journalists and politicians has sparked opposition from human rights activists, who argue that a failure to properly enforce laws related to pre-trial detention makes it a means for authorities to “crack down on opponents”.
On July 23, the “National Dialogue” conference initiated by Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi discussed the issue of “pretrial detention”, but was boycotted by representatives of the “Citizens’ Democratic Movement” who pointed out that ” No progress has been made on the issue of “pretrial detention”. It’s about rights and freedoms.
During the meeting, 79 pre-trial detainees were released and the pre-trial detention periods of at least 125 people were extended, most of whom had been detained for calling on July 12 to protest economic conditions in the Sisi era, according to the Sisi-era announcement. catch.
Pretrial detention in Egypt: preventive measure or tool to suppress dissent?
A campaign of pretrial detention by Egyptian authorities targeting activists, journalists and politicians continues to spark controversy among proponents of pretrial detention legislation, who view it as legally necessary and call for it to be repealed, or at least amended, Because the legislation has become “a means to silence opponents.”
“When we pulled a copy of the execution period certificate, we were surprised to find that it stated that the sentence would begin on January 3, 2022, the date the sentence was approved,” Abdel Fattah’s lawyer said in the post.
This means he will remain jailed until January 3, 2027, waiving the period from September 29, 2019 until January 2, 2022 before the sentence is approved.
Ali explained to the Al-Hurra website that this period was canceled because the pretrial detention period was based on his arrest for felony No. 1356 of 2019, which includes joining a terrorist organization, spreading false news and abusing social media. Criminal “skinnings” would then be issued and classified as misdemeanors while they remain felonies yet to be dealt with.
He told this website that he submitted a report to the prosecutor in order to calculate the sentence from the date of arrest and then release him on the 29th of this month.
He referred on Facebook to the text of the aforementioned Article 482, which provides for the reduction of the prison sentence from the date of arrest of the offender, and to the text of Article 484, which regulates the period of pre-trial detention in the case of multiple offences. The prison sentence imposed on the defendant begins with a lighter punishment.
He said the law provides that the period of pre-trial detention must be deducted from the period for which the defendant is sentenced for the same crime or any other crime committed or investigated during pre-trial detention, provided that the defendant has endured that period. In the absence of innocence, pretrial detention to facilitate investigation and deducting the sentence from the sentence are measures required by justice.
However, Supreme Court lawyer Hassan Abu Elnein told the Al-Hurra website that pretrial detention is deducted from the sentence during the execution of the sentence, which is one of the basic principles of the law.
This means that the period of pretrial detention will be deducted from the sentence only if there is a conviction in this case (which is a misdemeanor), but not in other cases.
But he explained that the matter caused problems because some of the charges from the misdemeanor case were also included in the original case, so he remains incarcerated. Acts, especially Abdel Fattah is a well-known figure.
Ali said on Facebook that no other judicial ruling has been made against Alaa so far, nor has he been referred to any other trial, and that the basic rule for defendants is innocent until proven guilty and that the defendant has not been charged. Release any new conviction, even if he was investigated for a felony five years ago.
Ali told the Al-Hurra website: “We are not asking for an exception. Alaa was arrested on September 28, 2019 and was due to be released on September 29.”
He added: “The serious crime has not yet been processed. This means that the prosecution has not completed the evidence of his membership in a terrorist organization and transferred him to court.”
According to his statement on our website, this means that prosecutors must close the case or issue a transfer order.
He said: “She (wanted to) jail him, jail him for her and wear a white uniform, like a pre-trial detention, but he served five years in a misdemeanor case and there was no other verdict against him…if that was done The matter will remain clear following the ruling, but no referral ruling has been issued.
He noted that his sister Sana was released under similar circumstances because “her sentence began when she was arrested and the crime was not solved.”
Alaa’s sister was tried and sentenced after she was arrested and investigated for the same charges, namely membership of a terrorist organization and posting and abusing social media, including posting criminal acts.
The judgment has been executed, and the sentence is calculated from the date of arrest, not from the date of the judgment. The crime is still under investigation and has not been processed. He has been released.
“Why insist that he remain jailed until January 2027 simply because he ‘shared’ this post?” his lawyer asked in the post.
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