The Committee for Justice (CFJ) has documented a troubling escalation in the Egyptian authorities’ treatment of human rights defenders, lawyers, and legal aid providers — an approach that effectively criminalizes human rights work itself and weaponizes judicial tools and legal procedures as instruments of repression, in grave violation of the rule of law and fair‑trial guarantees.
According to CFJ’s documentation, the professional duties of human rights lawyers — particularly providing legal support to detainees and their families — are increasingly met with punitive measures, including arbitrary arrest, enforced disappearance, and prolonged pretrial detention, alongside the use of vague and repetitive charges that serve to prolong detention in the absence of final judicial rulings.
CFJ further noted that the authorities have increasingly relied on practices known as “case recycling” and “judicial file freezing” to keep human rights defenders in detention far beyond legal limits, while turning legitimate legal documents — such as powers of attorney and defense memoranda — into evidence for prosecution. This practice undermines the core right to defense and strikes at the heart of the independence of the legal profession.
The organization emphasized that such policies constitute an institutional approach aimed at deterring any independent legal or human rights activity, effectively hollowing out the justice system’s role as a guarantor of rights and freedoms, and transforming it into a tool of security control.
CFJ warned that the continuation of these practices poses a direct threat to the right to access justice. The organization called for an end to the prosecution of human rights defenders and lawyers for their professional work, the release of individuals arbitrarily detained, the protection of the independence of the legal profession, and genuine adherence by the authorities to constitutional and international human rights standards.
