Official Statement

Human Rights Campaign in Support of Prisoners in Egypt’s Prisons

Geneva | September 15, 2026

Launch of the Second Phase of the “Freedom Captives in Egypt” Campaign

Coinciding with the 63rd Session of the United Nations Human Rights Council, and in continuation of the human rights path we previously launched to break the deadlock in the file of political detainees, JHR announces the launch of the second phase of the “Prisoners of Freedom in Egypt” campaign, affirming the continuation of the human rights struggle until the release of the prisoners and the complete closure of the political detention file.

We stand today at the headquarters of the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva to place the file of thousands of arbitrarily detained individuals directly before the international community and the Special Rapporteurs concerned with arbitrary detention, torture, the independence of the judiciary, and prison conditions in general.

We hold these UN mechanisms accountable, both legally and morally, and demand their urgent intervention, and an end to mere verbal condemnations of a file in which prison has become a tool of political struggle.

This phase places particular focus on the situation of thousands of detainees who have languished behind bars for more than 10 to 13 continuous years — a period that far exceeds any reasonable or procedural ceiling. In reality, these are not prisoners serving deserved sentences, but rather “political prisoners in all but name,” whose lives have been confiscated by security decisions.

This phase focuses on four core issues, which we place before public opinion and international bodies as immediate, non-negotiable demands:

• Ending the tragedy of prolonged pretrial detention:
Pretrial detention in Egypt has shifted from an exceptional measure into a disguised, open-ended political punishment. With the amendments to the new Criminal Procedure Code coming into effect on October 1, we affirm that the true test of any legislative reform lies in its practical implementation; the amendments must result in the immediate release of everyone who has exceeded the maximum period of pretrial detention, and their replacement with the precautionary measures stipulated by law, rather than the Public Prosecution and judiciary circumventing this through cosmetic renewals.

• Abolishing the practice of “recycling”:
We demand the immediate cessation of the “recycling” mechanism used to redetain detainees immediately after release orders are issued or their sentences end — a practice that constitutes a complete act of abduction, depriving citizens of their fundamental right to liberty.

• The immediate release of the elderly and the sick:
We demand the immediate and unconditional release of the hundreds of elderly detainees and those suffering from chronic illnesses inside cells, who face a policy of slow killing through the systematic denial of medical care and deliberate health negligence.

• Ending the denial of family visits:
We demand the immediate end of the policy of total isolation and the years-long denial of visits imposed on dozens of prisoners, and the enabling of direct contact between them and their families and lawyers, given that this systematic isolation constitutes a form of psychological torture criminalized under international law.

The “Prisoners of Freedom in Egypt” campaign continues to dismantle the misleading official narrative, and to expose the true state of affairs inside Egyptian prisons before public opinion and international bodies.

Join us and support the campaign through the official hashtag

Prisoners_of_Freedom_in_Egypt#

They are not prisoners they are captives#