Egypt: Authorities must end crackdown on individuals discussing religious beliefs online
The Egyptian authorities have intensified their crackdown on religious expression online in recent months, said Amnesty International today, calling on the authorities to immediately and unconditionally release 23 people arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of religion and belief.
Over the past six months, security forces have arbitrarily arrested at least 29 people, including one woman, aged between 18 and their late fifties, across six governorates for having posted online content expressing religious views that do not align with state-sanctioned religious narratives, or simply for being members of social media groups discussing atheism and agnosticism and criticising mainstream religious beliefs. They are being investigated in connection with bogus charges of “contempt of religions” and “joining a group established in violation of law”. If convicted, they face up to five years in prison.
“Posting religious views online or taking part in discussions about belief or non-belief is not a crime. Yet the Egyptian authorities have intensified their crackdown on those discussing religious matters online in breach of the country’s international human rights obligations and more specifically the commitments the authorities made regarding freedom of religion during the country’s 2025 Universal Periodic Review at the UN Human Rights Council,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Egypt and Libya Researcher at Amnesty International.
“Egyptian authorities must stop criminalizing discussions about religious beliefs, including those deemed as divergent from socially dominant views, or sometimes purely for reflecting and questioning them. Authorities must immediately and unconditionally release those arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of religion or belief.”
Between mid-July 2025 and 1 January 2026, security officials subjected those arrested to enforced disappearance for periods ranging between four and 56 days. At least four detainees reported to prosecutors during their pretrial detention renewal sessions that they had been subjected to torture and other ill-treatment following arrest, while at least 11 were denied their right to legal counsel of their choosing during the interrogation phase. One detainee died in custody, according to statements his fellow inmates made to prosecutors during a pretrial detention renewal session in early January 2026. Amnesty International was unable to obtain information about the cause of death.
Egyptian authorities must end their restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief and stop prosecuting people based on what they believe.
Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International
Five were released in early December 2025 pending investigations. The remaining 23 people are held in pretrial detention.
Amnesty International spoke with a relative of one detainee, two lawyers at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms and two other lawyers representing 13 of the defendants.
Police arrested most detainees at their homes and seized their laptops and mobile phones, including some devices belonging to family members, without presenting arrest warrants or explaining the reasons for arrest.
A litany of violations during arrest
Upon arrest, security forces concealed the fate and whereabouts of those detained, thereby subjecting them to enforced disappearance. They were held outside the protection of the law in unknown National Security Agency (NSA) facilities for periods ranging from four to 56 days, at heightened risk of torture and other ill-treatment, before security forces brought them before the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP). During their enforced disappearance in NSA facilities, agents interrogated detainees while blindfolded for hours about their religious beliefs, including whether they were Muslim or Christian and whether they prayed.
Among those arrested, was one man who ran a YouTube channel featuring debates or critical discussions about religious ideas; for instance discussing commonly held beliefs in Islam and Christianity, including on the occurrence of signs ahead of Judgement Day. Another posted online content critical of a popular Islamic preacher, while another discussed cosmic justice. A third man shared content satirizing certain religious practices.
Security forces arrested Sherif Gaber, 32, a blogger and YouTuber, at his home in Cairo on 3 November 2025 and subjected him to enforced disappearance for around 56 days before bringing him before a prosecutor. Since 2013, authorities have repeatedly targeted Gaber for his online religious expression. Between 2013 and 2024, courts sentenced him in absentia on three separate trials to one, three, and five years in prison in connection with “contempt of religions” charges. He remains detained pending investigations.
SSSP prosecutors opened investigations against detainees on a range of charges, including joining a group established in violation of the law, exploiting religion to promote ideas harmful to national unity, contempt of religions, insulting religions through public means, and spreading false news. Prosecutors subsequently ordered their pretrial detention.
During one of the pretrial detention renewal sessions, held online in late 2025, three defendants told prosecutors that NSA agents had subjected them to electric shocks during their enforced disappearance. Prosecutors failed to promptly and effectively investigate these allegations by referring detainees for forensic examination and instead stated that they would summon them to an in-person session where they could “report whatever they want.”
Saeed Abo Mustafa, one of the detainees who had participated in online debates about religious beliefs, told prosecutors during his first pretrial detention renewal session that NSA agents beat him with their knees or foot hitting his back and stomach during his enforced disappearance in July 2025. Prosecutors dismissed his complaint, asking why he had not reported the abuse during his initial interrogation.
“The authorities are piling abuse upon abuse against those arbitrarily detained, from bringing absurd charges against them, to subjecting them to enforced disappearance and dismissing their serious allegations of torture and other ill-treatment. The Public Prosecution must immediately stop its complicity in NSA abuses by rubber-stamping arbitrary detention, and ensuring prompt, thorough, independent, impartial, transparent and effective investigations into all allegations of torture and other ill-treatment”, said Mahmoud Shalaby.
“Egyptian authorities must end their restrictions on the right to freedom of religion or belief and stop prosecuting people based on what they believe.”
Background
Religious minorities, including Coptic Christians, Shi’a Muslims and Bahá’ís, consistently face discrimination in law and/or practice in Egypt. Members of religious minorities, atheists and others not espousing state-sanctioned religious beliefs face threats and harassment including abusive summons and interrogations by the NSA and in some cases prosecution over vague “contempt of religions” charges.
State officials continued to discriminate against Christians by denying effective remedies for sectarian violence and imposing customary reconciliation processes that deprived them of compensation and sometimes led to their banishment.
Since March 2025, at least 15 members of the Ahmadi Religion of Peace and Light remain arbitrarily detained solely for peacefully exercising their right to freedom of religion. In April 2025, UN special procedures raised concerns with the Egyptian government over discrimination against the Baha’i community, including confiscation of cemeteries, denial of legal recognition and identity documents, and harassment of Baha’is.
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