
Summary:
Acquittal of journalist Hassan Al-Qabbani in the Rabia Operations Room case.
Rotation of former presidential candidate and head of the Strong Egypt Party Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh on a new case.
Rotation of 38 citizens, to new cases by the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
Renewal of the detention of hundreds of citizens pending Supreme State Security cases.
The President of the Republic issues a decision to pardon 58 Sinai citizens who are in prison.
Referral of 492 citizens in 5 cases to Cairo Court of Appeal to determine a chamber to hear their trials.
Details
Arrest and detention:
Monday, 23 December
Security forces in Sharqia, arrested Hamad Allah Zaki Attia and took him to an unknown location without presenting him to the investigating authorities.
Prosecution Investigations
Supreme State Security Prosecution:
Supreme State Security Prosecution interrogated (during the newsletter’s coverage period) dozens of citizens and put them in pretrial detention for joining a terrorist group and financing and supplying a terrorist group.
Rotation Pending New Cases:
Wednesday, 25 December
Supreme State Security Prosecution investigated former presidential candidate and head of the Strong Egypt Party Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh. They pretrial detention for the new case that will begin after the end of his 15-year prison sentence.
Sunday, Tuesday, Wednesday, 22, 24, 25, December
Zagazig Total Prosecution in Sharqia rotated 13 citizens, after delaying the implementation of their release procedures.
Detention Renewal:
Sunday, 22 December
Supreme State Security Prosecution in Cairo renewed the detention of journalist Ahmed Bayoumi for 15 days pending investigations into Case No. 5054 of 2024 on charges of joining a terrorist group and publishing false news and statements.
Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of journalist Sayed Saber for 15 days pending investigations into Case No. 6499, on charges of joining a terrorist group and publishing false news and statements.
Monday, 23 December
Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed the detention of economic expert Abdel Khaleq Farouk for 15 days pending investigations into Case No. 4937, on charges of joining a terrorist group and publishing false news and statements.
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, in Badr Prison heard detention renewal sessions for dozens of citizens held in pre-trial detention pending cases. Cases No. are 205 of 2015, 441 of 2018, 2174 of 2021, 2467 of 2021, 400 of 2022, 583 of 2022, 1691 of 2022, 145 of 2023, 294 of 2023, 1160 Of 2023, 1233 of 2023, 1470 of 2023, 2154 of 2023, 2194 of 2023, 2464 of 2023, 3388 of 2023, 3620 of 2023, 664 of 2024, 717 of 2024, 1281 of 2024, 1282 of 2024 including journalist Khaled Mamdouh, 1408 of 2024, 2801 of 2024, 2807 of 2024, 3528 of 2024, 3916 of 2024, 3972 of 2024, 3973 of 2024, 4278 of 2024, Supreme State Security.
Tuesday, 24 December
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, in Badr Prison heard detention renewal sessions for dozens of citizens held in pre-trial detention pending cases. Cases No. are 376 of 2012, 880 of 2020, 955 of 2020 including photojournalist Hamdi Al-Zaim, 1196 of 2020, 65 of 2021 including activist Nermin Hussein, 2121 of 2021, 2581 of 2021, 1576 of 2022, 88 of 2023, 585 of 2023, 860 of 2023, 2124 of 2023, 952 of 2024, 2810 of 2024, Supreme State Security.
Zagazig Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber in Sharqia decided to accept the appeal from the prosecution against the release 8 people, cancel the decision, and renew their detention for 45 days on charges of joining a terrorist group. They are Ahmed Abdel Badie Mohamed, Mohamed Abdullah El Bahnasawy, Alaa Mahmoud Ahmed Ismail, Ahmed Hamdy Ahmed Ali, Ibrahim Hisham Qabil, Zakaria El Sayed Hassanein, Ahmed Awni Abdel Basir, and El Sayed Saeed El Sudani.
Acquittal:
Tuesday, 24 December
State Security Prosecution decided to acquit 19 citizens in 11 cases, on bail of their place of residence.
Thursday, 26 December
Supreme State Security Prosecution decided to acquit 38 citizens pending 9 cases and rotated them pending new cases on the same charges.
Release:
Monday, Thursday, 23, 26 December
The security forces at numerous centers in Sharqia released 9 citizens, after completing the procedures of their release receiving the signal from National Security.
Trials:
Sunday, 22 December
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison postponed the retrial of 5 defendants, in Case No. 14406 of 2024, Settlement Felonies, known as the case of Helwan ISIS to the session of 11 February 2025.
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison postponed the retrial of 7 defendants, in Case No. 12851 of 2024, Helwan Felonies, known as the case of foreign currency smuggling to the session of 11 February 2025.
Monday, 23 December
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison postponed the retrial of 58 defendants, in Case No. 1235 of 2022, Omrania Felonies, known in the media as the Omrania Cell Case, to the session of 27 January 2025.
Tuesday, 24 December
Cairo Criminal Court, Terrorism Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison postponed the trial of 73 defendants in Case No. 1172 of 2024, Settlement Felonies, known in the media as the case of the Specialized Committees Cell in Settlement, to the session on 23 February 2025.
Judicial Rulings:
Tuesday, 24 December
Cairo Criminal Court of Appeals, Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison ruled to sentence 1 defendant to 10 years in hard labour, and 3 others to 5 years in hard labour in the case known in the media as the Atfih Violence Incidents Case.
Cairo Criminal Court of Appeals, Chamber-III, held in Badr Prison ruled to acquit journalist Hassan Al-Qabbani of the charges against him in the case known in the media as the Rabia Operations Room case.
Statements and Information:
Sunday, 22 December
The Ministry of Interior denied in a statement the circulated news on some pages about the death of a person inside one of the police stations in Alexandria as a result of torture.
Tuesday, 24 December
The President of the Republic issued a decision to pardon 54 convicts from Sinai on 14 December 14.
Actions of Public Prosecution
During the Whole Week
State Security Prosecution and investigating judges, referred 492 from cases 1numbers 107 of 2020, 200 of 2022, 335 of 2020, 630 of 2017, 970 of 2020, Supreme State Security, to the Cairo Court of Appeal to designate a terrorism chamber to consider them.
Legal Comment
Cairo Criminal Court acquitted journalist Hassan El-Qabbani in the case known in the media as the Rabia Operations Room case. The ruling ends the fears and anxiety from the journalist since his arrest due to the fact that his name is identical to one of the defendants in the case. It is necessary to take serious steps to address the phenomenon of identical names to protect citizens from prosecution and injustice.
Investigations are with Dr. Abdel Moneim Aboul Fotouh in a case dating back to 2020 by the Supreme State Security Prosecution, despite him being held in solitary confinement for 7 years since his arrest and without new evidence. This is in violation of the principle of “not to be tried twice for the same crime”; an authentic principle in Egyptian law and international conventions, to protect individuals from repeated judicial persecution for the same crime.