Rights Groups Urge African Commission to Address Escalating Human Rights Crisis in Egypt

Rights Groups Urge African Commission to Address Escalating Human Rights Crisis in Egypt
—————-
A coalition of 22 human rights organizations has called on the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights to take firm action in response to what they describe as a deepening human rights crisis in Egypt.

According to Jurist News, the appeal came after the Commission’s 85th session, where both the Egyptian government and the Commission’s country rapporteur presented reports that rights groups argue misrepresented or ignored widespread abuses.

Egypt’s official submission, covering the period from 2019 to 2024, denied the existence of detained journalists or prisoners of conscience and framed restrictions on civil society as steps toward “transparency.” It also described the 2023 presidential election as “peaceful” and “competitive,” despite extensive documentation of political repression, prosecutions of prospective candidates, and severe limitations on freedom of assembly and expression. The rapporteur’s 2024 visit to Egypt drew criticism for excluding meetings with independent rights organizations.

In contrast, human rights groups and UN bodies have documented thousands of arbitrary detentions over the past decade, targeting peaceful critics, journalists, political activists, and labor organizers under broad terrorism and “false news” charges. Reports also highlight persistent patterns of enforced disappearance, torture, prolonged pretrial detention, and recurring “case rotation,” in which detainees are re-charged in new cases to extend confinement.

Authorities have blocked hundreds of media and civil society websites, dispersed small protests, and conducted preemptive mass arrests ahead of anticipated demonstrations over economic conditions and regional conflicts. High-profile detainees—including activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim, and former presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy—remain imprisoned or face renewed charges.

Rights groups warn that constitutional amendments, counterterrorism laws, and proposed changes to criminal procedure have entrenched security control and weakened due-process protections. They also cite continued impunity for deaths in custody, torture allegations, and past mass killings.

Although the African Commission has previously found Egypt in violation of the African Charter, it has not passed a new resolution on the country since 2015. The coalition urged the Commission to issue a new resolution, strengthen monitoring mechanisms, and consider invoking early-warning measures to alert the African Union to the escalating situation. They also insisted that any future Commission session held in Egypt must include guarantees that all participants, including domestic critics, can participate without fear of reprisal.