The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) has concluded that Egypt’s three-year – and ongoing – detention of activist, Ahmed Assayed Suleiman (aka Gika), is arbitrary and violates his rights to liberty, to freedom of opinion and expression, to a fair trial and to freedom of peaceful assembly. In Opinion No. 17/2026, which the WGAD adopted in March 2026, following a joint communication by the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF), the human rights experts also called on Egypt to: (i) immediately release Gika; and (ii) accord him an enforceable right to compensation; and provide him with other reparation measures.
هذا البيان الصحفي متوفر اللغة العربية أيضاً
“The Working Group’s Opinion confirms that Egypt cumulatively subjected Gika to enforced disappearance for nearly four months, and continues to arbitrarily detain him in retaliation for his legitimate exercise of his rights to freedom of expression and peaceful assembly,” said Saïd Benarbia, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme Director. “The Egyptian authorities must immediately release Gika and provide him with full reparations.“
On 13 June 2023, after having detained him on at least three prior occasions in connection with his participation in peaceful protests, National Security Agency (NSA) officers re-arrested and detained Gika at NSA headquarters in Qalyubia, Lower Egypt.
On 11 August 2023, Gika was brought before the Public Prosecutor in Qalyubia, who charged him with “joining a terrorist organization” before granting him conditional bail. Despite this, NSA officers failed to release Gika and, instead, detained him at NSA headquarters.
On 2 September 2023, Gika was brought before the Public Prosecutor of Kafr Chokr, Qalyubia Governate, who charged him in a second case with “the publication and broadcast of false news” and remanded him in pre-trial detention through the well-documented practice of so-called case rotation in Egypt, which, as noted by the WGAD in its Opinion, entails that “release is ordered but never effected and new charges are brought against the person concerned”. When Gika was later granted bail, once again the NSA failed to implement the release order and, instead, held him at NSA headquarters in Qalyubia.
On 26 February 2024, Gika was brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) in Cairo, in a third case in which he was charged with “joining and financing a terrorist organization” before being remanded in pre-trial detention.
During all three periods in which Gika was held at NSA headquarters, the Egyptian authorities refused to allow him to contact his family or legal counsel and failed to respond to the latter’s numerous petitions to ascertain his fate and whereabouts. To date, Gika remains arbitrarily detained, and has been denied access to medical treatment for a chronic back injury by the detaining authorities.
“The WGAD’s Opinion should serve as a wake-up call to the Egyptian authorities and the international community regarding the continued use of arbitrary detention, enforced disappearance, and the practice of “rotation” against human rights defenders and political activists in Egypt. Ahmed Gika must be released immediately and unconditionally,” said Mohamed Lotfy, Executive Director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.
The WGAD found Gika’s detention to be arbitrary on all grounds submitted by the ICJ and ECRF. With respect to this, the WGAD concluded that his detention was arbitrary for the following reasons:
- Gika’s deprivation of liberty lacked a sufficient legal basis;
- Gika’s detention resulted solely from the legitimate exercise of his rights to freedom of opinion and expression and of peaceful assembly; and
- All stages of the criminal proceedings against Gika had been marred with violations of his right to a fair trial.
In its concluding remarks, the WGAD reiterated that its Opinion concerned one of several cases brought before it concerning arbitrary detention in Egypt, and warned that this may point to a “widespread or systematic practice of arbitrary detention in Egypt, including the unlawful practice of rotation”. The Working Group underscored Egypt’s “obligation not to engage in acts that could constitute crimes against humanity, and to prevent and punish them if they are committed”. Under customary international law, severe deprivation of physical liberty in violation of fundamental rules of international law, when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population, may constitute a crime against humanity.
The ICJ and the ECRF call on the Egyptian authorities to implement the WGAD’s Opinion in full, including by:
- Releasing Gika immediately and unconditionally;
- Ensuring that Gika is not subjected to further case rotation in an effort to arbitrarily extend his detention.
- Pending release, ensuring Gika’s access to adequate medical treatment;
- Undertaking an impartial, independent and effective investigation into the violations of Gika’s human rights and taking appropriate measures against those responsible for these violations, including by bringing those responsible to justice;
- According Gika an enforceable right to compensation and providing him with other reparation measures; and
- Urgently reforming the Anti-Terrorism Law of 2015 and certain Penal Code provisions, including article 188 which criminalizes fake news, and putting an end to the practice of authorizing pre-trial detention in violation of article 9(3) International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), which requires that the judicial authority authorizing such a detention be independent.
Background
With respect to its findings, the WGAD held that Gika’s deprivation of liberty lacked a sufficient legal basis due to:
- Egypt’s failure to serve Gika with an arrest warrant on his initial arrest;
- Egypt’s failure to release Gika in line with two separate bail orders;
- Egypt’s use of “case rotation” to perpetuate Gika’s pre-trial detention beyond the limits prescribed under Egyptian law;
- Egypt’s perpetration of three instances of enforced disappearance and incommunicado detention against Gika; and
- Egypt’s failure to ensure that Gika was brought before an independent judicial authority both promptly after arrest and subsequently to review the legality of his detention. With respect to this, the Working Group re-stated its previous finding against Egypt that the SSSP, a body that simultaneously acts as prosecutor and judicial reviewer of detention, cannot be deemed to be independent for the purposes of exercising “judicial power”.
Furthermore, the WGAD also found that Egypt failed to respect international norms relating to the right to a fair trial at all stages of the criminal proceedings against Gika so far, including by denying his access to legal counsel during the three periods of enforced disappearance and by subjecting him to “case rotation” to perpetuate his pre-trial detention.
Contact
Saïd Benarbia, Director, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme; t: +41 22 979 3800, e: said.benarbia@icj.org
Nour Al Hajj, Communications & Advocacy Officer, ICJ Middle East and North Africa Programme; e: nour.alhajj@icj.org
