Prolonged Pretrial Detention: Punishment Without Trial
From the report "Military Trials and Counterterrorism Cases: The State’s Tools to Curb Political Violence in Egypt Since 2013"
In Egypt, pretrial detention is used as a tool for political punishment rather than a precautionary measure. Instead of releasing defendants after their legal pretrial detention period ends, authorities extend their detention for years without trial, depriving them of their right to defend themselves in court.
The report reveals that hundreds of political detainees spend years in pretrial detention without being tried, as their imprisonment is routinely renewed without clear legal justification. In some cases, detainees are held for more than two years—the maximum legal limit for pretrial detention under Egyptian law.
This policy contradicts international legal standards, which affirm that pretrial detention should be an exceptional measure rather than the norm. The continued imprisonment of defendants without trial reflects a lack of justice and turns prisons into sites of arbitrary detention.
Strict limitations must be imposed on pretrial detention to prevent its misuse as a substitute for trial, and all detainees held beyond the legal maximum period must be released.
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