Report of arrest and detention incidents on the basis of political background During 2020

هذا التقرير متوفر بالعربية

A report of facts and metadata of the facts of the security or judicial move against persons on a political basis during 2020

Democratic Transition and Humain Rights Support - Daam - Production

Report PDF version

This report covers a period of six months from January to June 2020. The monitoring methodology is based on counting the arrests on political grounds in Egypt which are multiple and recurrent cases under the current repressive political regime. The regime tends to obscure information concerning the incidents of arrest, but the activists of the Egyptian civil society are dedicated to ensuring the right of the Egyptian citizen and the international community in accessing such sensitive and important  information as per the rights of detainees and preventing violations as much as possible.

It can be said that the violations of human rights in Egypt are an orchestrated policy of  security and judicial institutions. The regime’s media also supports that policy with fallacies and rumors trying to cover up the violations and deny their existence.

 

It should be noted that the numbers mentioned in the report do not represent the total number of detainees during a certain period of time against the background of the same facts, but are   considered as instantaneous rather than continuous events.  Given that the incidents of arrest of persons issued in absentia sentences are not included since  it is of a very wide range, and not enough data is available. The report also did not include any cases related to the North Sinai Governorate, except for those who were brought before the High State Security Prosecution (HSSP) Taking into account the repetition of the names of the accused or arrested more than once. It should be noted that the numbers of the counting were based on facts quoted from specific sources, in the following order of priority: (Official sources / human rights sources / media sources / family sources)

Methodology and criteria

The general framework The methodology of monitoring and archive regarding this report:

In the context of the report, the case of “arrest and accusation on political grounds” was defined as every security movement (detention or arrest) or judicial action (accusation of arrest and summons) against persons on a political basis. What is meant by a political background here is incidents related directly to the public affairs and they are in three main sections, which are:

  • Individual / group protest events, whether on a sports, labor, social or political basis.
  • Terrorist acts and operations of armed groups, and all accusations related to them.
  • Any incidents related to the arrest of persons due to accusations of overthrowing the ruling, disturbing the order, or joining a group established in contravention of the provisions of the law .. Etc.

Important clarifications regarding the methodology of the report and criteria for including cases:

The report is considered an initial counting and its main purpose is to show the detailed and internal  contexts and patterns of the incidents, their data and elements. The report may not fully express the actual total cases according to the same specified criteria. “Zero” number in the report doesn’t mean that there are no other cases in a certain time and place.

Sources:

The report relied mainly on secondary sources, which were not directly verified from their primary sources, but the credibility of the source was taken into account and information was verified from multiple sources.

The elements of the sources relied upon to build the report are divided as follows:
  • Case papers and official statements of the Ministry of Interior and official authorities.
  • Press sources such as newspapers and news sites.
  • Relevant bodies with human rights, organizations or individuals, such as lawyers and human rights activists.
  • Civil sources such as highly local web pages that cover specific geographical areas, whether in the context of human rights or news.
The "main source type for incident approval" is divided as follows:
  • “Official bodies”: It is the case in which there is an official source regarding the actual occurrence of the incident, regardless of the accuracy of the details and narratives of the incident, or until reliable legal data transferred from security, judicial or any other government agency is available on them.
  • “Human rights bodies”: It is the case that relied on the narratives of human rights organizations only as they don’t have a source from "official bodies” or a “ direct means to the primary source".
  • “Mass Media” It is the case reported by media bodies, and accuracy has been exercised in relying on them by reviewing criteria and rules for documentation and information auditing.
  • Sources from people: It is the case in which no other sources are available from the aforementioned, and caution has been taken in relying on them by reviewing the criteria and rules for documenting information, and measuring the credibility of the source itself.
Problems related to sources:
  • The data is completely arranged and archived according to the following archive system: The date of the incident then governorate where the incident took place - in a fixed order for the governorates-, the incident’s Police Department which is the indictment report or the demonstration incident and not the arrest department-, the location of the incident, then a distinctive or indexed name of the incident consisting of that hierarchy, and the type of security action - where it is placed Cases of arrest or seizure and summons first before the detainees.
  • In the cell “a specific name for the incident”, it has been taken into account that it is archived according to the archive system, and a distinctive media name or the name approved in official papers may be added to it, and written in the following order: The beginning word is “incidents, security raids or security ambush or a page admin” according to the kind of incident. In case a group of incidents related to a certain event or an anniversary of a specific ever, the name of the incident or the anniversary is used as the beginning word, the police department of the incident, the place of the incident if available, a distinguished media name of the incident or a distinguished official number of the case and the history of the incident, day, month and year). Example of this; (Qasr Al Nil events - Tahrir Square- a known protest-and Case No such as 6-22-2020).
  • In the cell of the report or case number, all the official numbers were written according to their order with the official authorities, starting with the police station, then the police department, then the district prosecution, then the plenary prosecution, then the court circuits for misdemeanors, then appellant misdemeanors or felonies, then cassation, and they were all indexed as follows: (The word “number” + the official paper number is written in numbers and not letters + the word “year” + the calendar year and sometimes the judicial, as in the cassation, written in numbers and not letters + the words “administrative, misdemeanor, felonies, total, petitions, or investigation restriction” + the official body department The number + the word “restricted by a number” belongs to it, then the same sequence in the event that another official number is available for the same incident).
  • In the cell of the person's name or nickname field, it has been taken into account that the names of all people in the excel file are in a specific style that makes it easier to search after pressing CTRL + F. example: the Arabic letter Alif in all its forms (أ,إand آ) is written without signs (ا), the letter Al Taa’ Al Marbouta (ة) is written (ه) and Alif Maksoura (ى) is written (ي). The names (عبد الله- عبد الرحمن )is written without change (عبد الله - عبد الرحمن)
  • There are "limited frameworks" assumptions within the report in very precise and analytical details related to contexts and a general approach to what is happening on the ground.
  • The report was fully revised in order to reduce the percentage of “double arithmetic” by avoiding repetition, in various ways, whether by manual methods with traditional repeat deletions, or by comparisons to analyze time periods. Nevertheless, the possibility of recurrence remains.
  • Some people were arrested more than once and released, which is not considered a recurrence, as was previously clear.
  • The terminologies of police departments have been adopted with a unified index system by mentioning the name of the city / police department due to the low numbers of precisely mentioned police departments in order not to create a statistical problem.

General problems:

  • Data scarcity and difficulty in accessing it.
  • Coverage of some governorates and geographical regions is sufficiently weak, such as the Upper Egypt region and the Canal region.
  • Lack of information on the personal data of the accused, such as age and occupation.
  • Lack of official data.
  • Lack of data on the accusations of the people, or mentioning it in an abusive abbreviation, such as mentioning that the person is accused of (joining), without any additional explanations.
  • There are a large number of cases that are not related to specific facts. This makes it difficult to recognize the general and time frame of the case.

The place of incidents

There are two separated geographic scopes:
  • The province of the incident or the police department or the location of the incident: It is the place of occurrence of the original accusation incident in the following order (governorate - police department - specific location), where the minutes was written and not the place of arrest of the person.
  • The place of residence: It is the place of residence of the person, whether within the same district or province or not. It is not necessary that the place of residence is the fixed address in the ID, however it may be any alternative or temporary place of residence.
The geographic scope was divided as the following
  • The Greater Cairo region which includes the governorates of Cairo, Giza and Al Qalyubia.
  • Lower Egypt which includes governorates of the Mediterranean Sea as Kafr El Sheikh, Damietta, Alexandra and Marsa Matruh.
  • Delta region which includes the governorates of Ash Sharqia, Dakahlia, Gharbia, Menoufia and Gharbia.
  • Upper Egypt Region which includes the governorates of the Red Sea, Faiyum, Minya, Asyut, Sohag, Aswan, Luxor, Beni Suef and Qena.
  • The territory of the governorates of the Canal and North Sinai which includes the governorates of Ismailia, Port Said, Suez, and North Sinai (in the case of the governorates of residence).

The background to the incident was divided as follows:

  • “Political incident”: It is the demonstrations or protest activities on a political background for a clear political demand through which any other groups may participate in.
  • “sports”: They are the demonstrations or protest activities of soccer groups of fans, such as (Ultras Ahlawy or White Knights, among others).

Type of activity:

One of the problems is that many cases are not based on a specific and clear incident, so the report relied on the following order to determine the type of activity:

  • The same incident in the cases based on specific facts, such as field protests, terrorist acts, or any other facts.
  • The accusations: The following sequence was adopted: Demonstration / press work / electronic publishing / joining.
  • The type of the arrest incident or investigation, whether it was a security raid or ambush, or a deportation from outside the country.

The type of activity was divided as the following:

  • A collective protest activity: These are cases of arrest, detention and accusation on the background of a field demonstration,
  • “A security ambush”: These are individual cases of arrest through security ambushes, then directing accusations of demonstrating without notice and without being related to the incident of a specific field demonstration at the time. If the case is in connection with a specific demonstration, it is included in the "demonstration" section.
  • Electronic publishing: It is the cases of arrest and the accusation of electronic publishing via social media websites which contains several sub-divisions, namely:-
  • Managing electronic page
  • Inciting to overthrow the regime
  • Inciting to protest
  • Promoting the ideas of a terrorist group
  • Spreading false news
  • “Security raids”: They are the cases of arrest through house raids.
  • “Joining a group”: It is the cases of accusations of joining an entity whether it was identified or described only such as:-
  • Ultras
  • Financing a terrorist group
  • ISIS
  • Al-Nusra Front
  • A terrorist group (the accused person wasn’t faced with the group’s identity)
  • A group founded in contravention of the provisions of the law (the accused person was not faced with the group's identity)
  • A banned group (the accused persons wasn’t faced the group’s identity)
  • April 6 Movement
  • Hasm Movement
  • Ghalaba Movement
  • “Filing a report”: These are facts in which a citizen has filed a report against a person, accusing him of charges with a political nature.
  • Deportation from a foreign country to Egypt: These are incidents in which a person was deported from abroad to Egypt for being wanted for political accusations in Egypt.
  • "financing": They are incidents in which the accusations were leveled of financing a group aiming to overthrow the regime.
  • "Raising political slogans": They are incidents related to the accusations leveled at having banners, leaflets, or something containing political slogans.
  • "Visiting a detainee": These are facts in which a person was detained while visiting a detainee on the background of political accusations.
  • "Terrorist act": They are incidents of violence that take place by armed groups against civilians, the army or the police.
  • “Journalistic work”: The incidents in which a journalist is detained because of his work as a journalist or while performing his work. It has several subdivisions, which are:
  • Insulting the president of the republic
  • Photography without a license
  • journalist report
  • Spreading false news
  • “Work of arts and literature” They are the incidents in which a person is arrested as a result of an artistic or literary work, such as a book, a play, or a song.
  • “Trade union activity”: The facts in which a person is detained as a result of his trade union activity.
  • “Sports activity”: They are the facts that the accusation is made on the background of a sporting activity or inside a facility

The incidents of arrest on the background of sporting activity contain several subdivisions which are:

  • Baptized destruction.
  • Having banners.
  • An attempt to enter a sports stadium

“A state security issue": They are the people who are brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, on a political basis, without knowing the specific accusations against them.

'Party activity': The incidents that have been charged on the background of partisan activity, and contain several subdivisions, namely:

  • Partisan activity
  • Incitement to demonstrate

The type of the body that consider lawsuit was divided to the following:

  • “The Ministry of Interior”: It is the state of arrest then released through the Ministry of Interior without writing a report and referral to the Prosecution.
  • “The Public Prosecution”: It is the state of arrest, writing a report and referral to the Prosecution whether the investigation is being conducted, or it has been dismissed, or the accused person have been excluded, but there is no subsequent decision to refer to trial
  • “Misdemeanor Court”: It is the state of arrest, writing a report, presenting it to the prosecution, then referring it to the Misdemeanor Court where a decision was issued regarding the case or is still before it.
  • Misdemeanor Court - Terrorism: It is the case of arrest, filing a report, presenting it to the prosecution, and then referring it to one of the circuits devoted to terrorism cases in misdemeanor courts which it has been decided or is still before it, taking into account that the appeal to terrorist misdemeanor is registered in the regular appellant misdemeanor courts.
  • Misdemeanor Court - Emergency Supreme State Security: It is the state of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the Prosecution then referral to one of circuits that is devoted to the cases of the Emergency Supreme State Security cases in Misdemeanor Courts in which a decision was taken regarding the case or the case is still before it, taking into account that the appeal to Emergency Supreme State Security Misdemeanor is registered in the regular appellant misdemeanor courts.
  • “Appellant Misdemeanor Court”: It is the state of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the Prosecution then referral to the Misdemeanor Court and a decision was issued. Then the Appellant Misdemeanor Court issued a decision concerning it. In case it is proven that it has not been decided before an appellant misdemeanor, the misdemeanor judgment is recorded as the last judgment and legal status.
  • “The Criminal Court”: It is the state of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the prosecution, then referral to the criminal court which has issued a decision concerning the case or the case is still before the court.
  • “The Criminal Court- Terrorism”: It is the state of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the prosecution then referral to one of the circuits devoted to terrorism cases in the criminal courts. And the court has issued a decision regarding the case or it is still before it.
  • “Criminal Court - Supreme State Security Emergency”: It is the state of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the prosecution then referral to one of the circuits devoted to the Emergency Supreme State Security cases in criminal courts which issued a decision regarding the case or the the case is still before the court.

The legal status for person was divided to the following:

  • "No report was made": It is the cases of arrest then the release through the Ministry of Interior without filing a report and presenting it to the Prosecution.
  • “Pretrial detention”: It is the case in which the latest date for renewing the imprisonment for the accused person is known during the period covered by the report.
  • “A state of release”: It is the case in which the person is finally released, and it is ensured that it is implemented and not canceled after the prosecution appeals.
  • “Excluding from the report”: It is the incidents which a report was actually made, and then some people were dismissed from these incidents and were not brought before the prosecution.
  • “Unknown” It is the case in which the current legal status of a person is unknown, whether his case was referred to the court, or he is still being held in pretrial detention or he has been released.
  • “referred to trial in presence”: It is the case of arrest, filing a report and presenting it to the prosecution, then referral to trial, and no court ruling was issued in it until December 31, 2020.
  • “Sentenced” It is the case in which a judgment of a guilty verdict in presence has been issued against the person, and he is serving the term of his sentence.
  • “Sentenced in absentia”: The cases in which a person has been convicted in absentia.
  • “Served the duration of a sentence”: The cases in which a person is supposed to be released from prison, after having already served his sentence.
  • “Acquittal”: It is the case of arrest, filing a police report and being brought before the Prosecution then referral to trial then a judgment of acquittal.
  • “Presidential Pardon”: It is the case of arrest, filing a police report and being brought before the Prosecution then the issuance of a presidential pardon whatever was the litigation stage.
  • “Death”: It is the case of arrest, filing a police report and being brought before the Prosecution, then the accused person dies inside his place of detention whatever was his legal situation at that time.
  • “Released”: It is the case in which the re-arrest of a person was monitored as he was previously mentioned as an arrested person pending investigations on another case, after being confirmed that he is the same person. That means that he was released from the first incident of arrest, but without knowing whether he was set free or a judicial ruling with acquittal or conviction was issued against him, and he actually served the duration of his sentence .
Notes

In general, this counting covers more than 90% of the arrested persons who were brought before the Supreme State Prosecution (this is clear from many proofs). As for Public Prosecution, information is unclear especially in certain governorates such as Damietta and Kafr El Sheikh.

Regarding the State Security Prosecution, the continuation of pretrial detention was confirmed for 967 persons, while 933 persons were released. In addition, the legal situation for 3602 defendants wasn’t confirmed as a person wasn’t recorded as an arrested person without confirming the last renewal of his detention before the date of December 31. Even if it was evidently confirmed that his detention continues, except that if this information cannot be reached, he is recorded as unknown.

The report covers
% 0
The persons before the Higher State Security Prosecutor

Regarding the accusations, 43% of the charges are counted. This is due to the fact that accusations are not recorded except in the case of mentioning an accurate source of accusations, even though in a governorate like Ash Sharqia more than 98% of detainees are charged with joining the  Muslim Brotherhood Movement and possessing leaflets. However, rarely None of the sources mention the accusations, and basic information such as accusations cannot be assumed even if they are implicitly confirmed. Therefore, they are not recorded and the  monitored number of incidents of arrest in Ash Sharqia is 2472 persons which is 27.5% of the total number.

The report covers

% 0
From accusations

The same crisis is with regard to the Supreme State Security Prosecution in which human rights and media monitoring focus on specific issues

Since 70% of the incidents are related to accusations of joining, publishing and other accusations which are not related to specific incidents, the statistics are based on the province of residence.

Not every repetition in the incidents of arrest for the same person is an enlistment in new cases without actually releasing him, because there are people who are actually released then they are arrested and brought again before either to the Public Prosecution or the State Security Prosecution

In general, the counted number of arrested persons is almost the same as the number during 2019, and the difference is only due to the decrease in the number of the arrested persons during the incidents of September 20, 2020 as more than 5000 persons were arrested in September 2019 compared to September 2020 when 2445 persons were arrested. This reflects (the target) policy of the Ministry of Interior.

It is clear that the jurisdiction of the Supreme State Prosecution is in certain geographical regions which are Cairo, the Canal, Northern Sinai, Upper Egypt and Alexandria. On the other hand, the jurisdiction of the Public Prosecution is in Delta, Al Qalyubia, Beheira and the rest of governorates but under the direct supervision of the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) which may request the case file in order to investigate in, especially that all these case files are recorded with a number in the State Security Counting.

There is a weakness in data on the governorates of Kafr El Sheikh, Damietta, Ismailia and Upper Egypt due to the lack of news about them and the fear of lawyers from writing regarding investigations and cases in which they attend.

With the exception of the events of September 20, approximately 95% of the incidents of arrest were carried out through security raids, and not being arrested from the streets, as happened in most of the arrests in the events of September 20, 2020.

% 0
From facts done through security raids

During 2020, 8,961 incidents of security or judicial action were recorded against persons on a political background in all governorates of the Republic, except for North Sinai, through 145 police departments, cities and Marakiz (the second-level, beneath and within governorates) The number is divided between 8802 cases of “arrest” and referral to the prosecution, and 159 cases of “arrest and then dismissed from the minutes” or “no minutes was actually made”, knowing that all cases in which no information was reached about whether they were excluded from this inventory The case has been presented to the prosecution or was dismissed without making a report.

This counting consists of two main parts:

  • The informational side (facts): It is the part related to facts, such as the personal data of the arrested person, such as name, age, etc., or legal data such as the case number, accusations and court rulings. Etc.
  • Descriptive data: It is the part related to the classifications and metadata, such as the background of the incident, the type of activity the person is in custody, the geographical region, and the quarterly period. Etc.
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Statistical summary:

3,676 people have been monitored with available case numbers. This represents 41% of the total number of those who were counted and detained in connection with 231 different cases, including 77 cases belonging to the High State Security Prosecution. In addition to the 5284 whose case numbers could not be reached.

The three largest cases containing accused persons,  are by the following order:

Case No.

880

Supreme State Security counting

0
accused persons

Case No.

960

Supreme State Security counting

0
accused persons

Case No.

1513

Supreme State Security counting

0
accused persons

As for the background of the incident

8,922 arrests

on political background

39 arrests

on sports background

Distribution of arrest and detention per district

 As for the time period of the arrest incidents, 1695 incidents were monitored during the first quarter of the year, which represents about 18.9%, and 1085 incidents during the second quarter, which represents about 12%, and 2387 incidents during the third quarter, which represents about 26.6%, and 1878 incidents during the fourth quarter This represents approximately 20.9%, and 1916 unspecified incidents, which represents approximately 21.3%

A comprehensive distribution for the incidents of arrest and detention based on the month of the arrest incident

As for the governorates and geographical regions, the largest geographical region in which incidents occurred within its scope is Cairo, with a rate of 3885 incidents, representing a rate of 43.3%. The governorates of Cairo are followed by the governorates of the Delta with 2,554 cases which represents 28.5%. Then they are followed by the governorates of Lower Egypt  with 640 arrests which represent 7.1%, and 297 cases of Upper Egypt which represent 3.3%. 39 cases for the governorates of Canal and North Sinai which represent 0.4%. In addition to the 1543 unknown governorate to which the person belongs, representing 17.2%, and one case of deportation outside Egypt.

A total of 127 females were arrested, representing 1.4%. And 8834 males were arrested, representing 98.6%

For age groups:

Under 18 years

0
minors

from 18 to 30 years

0
persons

from 31 to 40 years

0
persons

from 41 to 50 years

0
persons

from 51 to 60 years

0
persons

over 60 years

0
persons

age is unknown

0
persons

As for the charges, the charges against 3875 persons were counted, representing 43.2%, and this included:

Charges related to joining an entity, whether a terrorist group or a banned group, etc., or promoting ideas or financing any of those groups to 3723 people. In addition to charges related to electronic publishing to 3033 persons and accusations of demonstrating or gathering to 2440 persons, in addition to  331 persons who have been charged for  possession or promotion of publications and prints.

 

 

Taking into account that usually two or more of the aforementioned accusations are directed.

 

As the accusations related to, whether a terrorist group or a banned group, etc. or promoting ideas or financing any of these groups were associated with the charges related to electronic publishing against 3021 persons.

 

 

The previous accusations were also associated with charges related to demonstrating or gathering 2301 times.

Regarding students, arrest incidents were monitored for 172 students, including 17 preparatory school students, 46 secondary school students, and 109 college students.

As for jobs, according to the most prominent professions that a number of their members have been arrested, the most monitored group by order, 100 teachers, 71 engineers, 63 workers, 58 lawyers, 39 doctors and 32 journalists, in addition to 14 researchers.

Also, the arrest of 12 faculties members was monitored.

Statistical presentation according to the investigation authorities

High State Security Prosecution:

The number of those who were brought before the High State Security Prosecution reached 5505, representing 61.4% of the total number of those who are counted, including 110 females and 5396 males.

 

735 final release decisions and 199 persons with precautionary measures were recorded, in addition to the confirmation of continuing the imprisonment of 967 persons and three deaths. There are 3601 accused persons with uncertain legal status. 

 

 

Among the release decisions, 10 were a release on bail with a total of EGP 385,000. Even though three persons were referred for substantive trial among the persons who were brought before the High State Security Prosecution.

The Public Prosecution

The number of those persons who were brought before the Public Prosecution office during the reporting period was 3,287. Representing 36.6% of the total number of those who were counted, including 13 females and 1713 males

The release decisions were monitored against 758 persons, and 58 of them were referred for trial.

 

The issuance of bail release decisions against 511 people, with a total of 2,426,000 Egyptian pounds, in addition to 284 persons whose detention is confirmed to be continued, and there are 726 persons whose legal status is unknown. And 15 deaths. 

 

In total, 1571 people were referred for substantive trial from those before the Public Prosecution, of whom 128 were referred to criminal courts, and 1443 cases were referred to misdemeanor courts.

Criminal courts:

The number of those who were referred to criminal courts reached 128 persons, to the Criminal Court, the Emergency Supreme State Security Services, where 62 persons were acquitted, 53 were found guilty, and the cases of 13 persons had not yet been decided.

Misdemeanor courts:

The number of those who were referred to misdemeanor courts reached 1,443 persons, including 1,429 persons who were referred to misdemeanor courts in the emergency supreme state security circuits. In addition, 14 persons were referred to misdemeanor courts, terrorism departments where 450 people were acquitted, 417 people were found guilty, and the verdicts were reported to include fines estimated at 6,156,850 Egyptian pounds.

 

In addition to the death of two people, one of them after being sentenced, and the other before being sentenced.

 

The cases of 298 persons are still on trial and we don’t know the judgment of 278. In addition,the  discontinuance of a legal action for 3 persons pending the recusation request.