By Nehad AbuelKomsan, Chairwoman of ECWR and Cassation Lawyer
Cairo, September 13, 2024
The amendments made by the House of Representatives to the new Criminal Procedure Law have sparked widespread debate. While members of the House have praised the updates introduced by the law, ECWR has highlighted several gaps that undermine the defendant’s right to defense. Nehad AbuelKomsan, Chairwoman of ECWR and Cassation Lawyer, emphasized that the new law imposes restrictions on lawyers’ ability to defend their clients, constituting a clear violation of the principle of fair trial.
The new law contains several shortcomings that need to be addressed, such as:
- Increasing the powers of law enforcement authorities and the unacceptable expansion of those granted judicial enforcement powers.
- Overlap between the law and the Anti-Terrorism Law, blurring the lines between procedural and substantive justifications for pretrial detention, effectively turning it into an arrest measure under the pretext of “breaching public security or order.”
- The extended periods of pretrial detention, which can reach up to 18 months or two years, effectively turn pretrial detention into a punishment without judicial ruling.
- The alternatives to pretrial detention mentioned in the law lack practical implementation and enforcement mechanisms.
- The provision for remote litigation and considering notifications as attended via electronic means is extremely dangerous and threatens rights and freedoms, as it undermines the right to multiple levels of litigation, especially given the weak networks and that some courts suffer from poor or nonexistent phone signals. This necessitates having alternatives alongside the use of technology (especially given Egypt’s rank of 96 out of 100 countries globally in terms of network coverage).
- Expanding the Public Prosecution’s powers to decide whether to allow or prevent lawyers from attending, submitting defenses and requests, accessing case files, and copying documents constitutes a severe breach of the right to defense and the right to access case materials.
- Expanding the range of courtroom offenses and restricting lawyers’ freedoms in defense constitutes a severe breach of the right to defense.
- The law lacks any reference to respecting international agreements to which Egypt is a signatory, and which the constitution mandates respect for according to Article 93 of the Constitution.
- The law does not mention the right of the National Council for Human Rights to attend investigations or intervene in certain cases, as per the constitutional right granted to the Council according to Article 99 of the Constitution.
The Egyptian Center for Women’s Rights, through its chairwoman Nehad Abuelkomsan, who is also a member of the National Council for Human Rights, has submitted a more detailed analytical perspective on the Criminal Procedure Law to Ambassador Moushira Khattab, President of the National Council for Human Rights, and Ambassador Anas Ghaffar, Coordinator of the Council’s Legislative Committee.
The full perspective can be accessed here
