The Supreme State Security Prosecution has ordered the detention of prominent cassation lawyer and former candidate for president of the Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate, Ossama Elsheshtawy, for 15 days pending investigation. He faces charges of “joining a terrorist organization” and “deliberately spreading false news.”
Elsheshtawy appeared before prosecutors on Wednesday, two days after he was forcibly disappeared by plainclothes security agents outside his home in the Nozha district of northern Cairo.
His arrest followed multiple public complaints he had made about being surveilled by unidentified individuals, raising concerns over threats to his personal safety.
“On my way to work this morning, I noticed two men on a motorcycle and a microbus with four passengers following me closely. They tailed me everywhere I went,” Elsheshtawy wrote on Facebook earlier this week.
He added that after returning home, he learned from neighbors that the same people had been asking about him for four days while carrying a printed photo of him. He said surveillance footage from nearby cameras captured these activities.
Elsheshtawy concluded the post, which he framed as an official complaint to the public prosecutor, by saying he held “the authorities fully responsible for any harm that may befall me,” and that his life had become endangered by unknown actors. “Anyone who approaches me, I will defend my life with all the strength I have,” he wrote. “I fear nothing but God.”
The charges against Elsheshtawy are based on several Facebook posts, including a call for a peaceful protest outside the Saudi embassy in Cairo in solidarity with an Egyptian lawyer allegedly assaulted in the kingdom, rights lawyer Nabeh Elganadi told Al Manassa.
Elsheshtawy had specified in his post that the demonstration would be held only with prior approval from the Ministry of Interior, Elganadi clarified.
During interrogations, Elsheshtawy admitted to writing the posts but insisted they constituted legitimate free expression, not criminal activity or incitement. He also complained of the conditions of his arrest and detention. Elganady told Al Manassa they plan to file a formal complaint with the public prosecutor.
The People’s Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience, a newly established civil coalition of public figures, party representatives and legal professionals, condemned Elsheshtawy’s arrest, calling the charges “baseless.”
In a statement, the committee said the accusations of “terrorism” and “false news” marked a new low in the ongoing crackdown on independent lawyers and dissenting voices. It described Elsheshtawy’s case as “another alarming episode in a widening campaign to intimidate legal professionals and silence critical opinion.”
The group warned that such prosecutions violate the independence of the legal profession and erode public freedoms, calling the use of vague charges a tool to suppress peaceful expression and lawful opposition.
It called for Elsheshtawy’s immediate and unconditional release, an end to all forms of harassment against lawyers and activists, and urged the Egyptian Lawyers' Syndicate and its members to defend the dignity and autonomy of the legal profession.
This case adds to a growing pattern of arrests targeting lawyers, journalists, and political opponents, and even their families, many of whom face prosecution under broad anti-terrorism statutes frequently criticized for being weaponized against dissent.
