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February 18, 2026 – Egypt –
The Egyptian Journalists Syndicate has formally petitioned the Prosecutor-General to release 17 journalists currently held in pretrial detention, appealing to legal authorities as Ramadan approaches and underscoring concerns about prolonged incarceration that, the syndicate says, may violate domestic legal limits. The filings were submitted on February 18, 2026, in Cairo, signalling growing pressure from professional media bodies on prosecutorial and judicial institutions.
Khaled El-Balshy, head of the syndicate, told reporters that the petitions specifically call for the immediate release of two journalists — Mohamed “Oxygen” Ibrahim Redwan and Safaa Mohamed Hassan El-Korbeigy — and for a systematic review of the detention status of 15 others whose cases have been referred to trial. El-Balshy highlighted provisions in Egypt’s Criminal Procedure Law and the constitution that regulate limits on pretrial detention, arguing that many detained journalists have exceeded those maximum periods without formal adjudication. The syndicate cited Article 204 of the Criminal Procedure Law, which authorises the Public Prosecution to release defendants at any time, and Article 143, which sets allowable pretrial detention durations.
The organisation’s petitions contend that several of the journalists have been in custody for extended periods — in some cases more than five years — without progress toward trial, raising legal and humanitarian concerns. Journalists Redwan and El-Korbeigy, the syndicate noted, each have conditions that supporters say weigh against continued confinement. Redwan is detained in connection with an older case despite completing a prior sentence, while El-Korbeigy — held since October 6, 2025, on state security charges — suffers from a physical disability and chronic pain, leading the syndicate to offer precautionary measures as alternatives to detention.
El-Balshy framed the appeal as a humanitarian plea consistent with both domestic law and broader calls to improve Egypt’s record on freedom of expression and rights of detainees during significant religious observances. He also reiterated the syndicate’s wider demand to close what he described as a “painful file” of protracted detentions of journalists and prisoners of conscience, urging authorities to consider restorative justice in cases where legal limits have been exceeded.
The move by the syndicate comes amid ongoing debates within Egypt about the balance between state security prerogatives and protections for media workers, particularly those critical of official policies or covering politically sensitive topics. As Ramadan nears, advocates and family members of detainees have called for timely action in light of humanitarian and legal considerations.
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