Weeks before rollout, watchdog urges delay to Egypt criminal procedures law
A prominent legal watchdog has called on the Egyptian government to freeze the rollout of its new Criminal Procedures Law for another full year, warning that pressing ahead with the overhaul next month threatens basic fair trial rights before the country's courts and staff are ready.
The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession (ACIJLP) urged authorities to push the law's effective date from the first of next month to Oct. 1, 2027.
The group cited steep practical hurdles to enforcing the legislation right now, arguing the state needs the extra time to finish required administrative preparations, train staff across relevant ministries, and put statutory alternatives to pretrial detention into practice under the amendments to Law No. 145 of 2006.
Yet the government, led by the Ministry of Justice, shows no sign of hesitating. Officials are forging ahead with implementation on the scheduled Oct. 1, 2026 deadline.
On Aug. 31, the ministry rolled out an online criminal litigation platform—a central pillar of the upgraded trial mechanisms mandated by the legislation.
Following that launch, justice minister Mahmoud El-Sherif issued a ministerial decree governing the operation of telephone and electronic notification centers.
Under the law, each courthouse nationwide must host a dedicated center to serve legal notices and summonses to plaintiffs and defendants by phone or online, replacing traditional process servers.
With the deadline now just weeks away, the ACIJLP warned in a statement that disputes over the law have reignited with fresh intensity. The clash centers on controversial new powers, including travel bans, broadened authority for the Public Prosecution, curbs on defense rights, weakened safeguards for the accused, and trials conducted remotely via video link.
The watchdog noted that these clauses have drawn sustained pushback from domestic civil society groups, law professors, UN committees, and special rapporteurs at the UN Human Rights Council.
The legislative fallout from enacting them, the center cautioned, carries “a gravity that cannot be remedied or measured in the near future,” directly imperiling the administration of justice guaranteed under international treaties and Article 93 of Egypt's Constitution.
Concerns over the legislation have simmered since its inception. A broad domestic coalition—spanning 23 political parties, human rights groups, and the Lawyers Syndicate—had previously appealed directly to the president not to sign the bill after parliament approved amendments they branded a “setback and retreat” from fundamental constitutional rights and freedoms. Among the most contested provisions is Article 64, which allows authorities to interrogate defendants “in cases of necessity” without a defense lawyer present.
International bodies have voiced matching alarms. In October 2025, the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) demanded that Egyptian authorities “completely reconsider” the draft law, citing deep and persistent concern over reports of “enforced disappearances and the continued practice of torture and ill-treatment.”
The ACIJLP emphasized that putting the statute on hold is essential to honor fair trial standards and bring Egyptian legal practice into compliance with the UN Human Rights Committee's binding commentary on Articles 7, 9, and 14 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), with urgent focus required on the systemic use of pretrial detention.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi signed the legislation into law last November despite widespread rights objections, setting the enforcement date for Oct. 1, 2026.
At the time, the presidency justified that one-year buffer as necessary so judges, public prosecutors, arresting officers, and defense attorneys could get to grips with the new statutory provisions, while courts built out the mandatory electronic notification network.
Ten months later, rights advocates say the state has prioritized operational mechanisms over constitutional guarantees.