Egyptian authorities detained prominent independent journalist Ismail Iskandarani over Facebook posts, Human Rights Watch said today. They should immediately and unconditionally release Iskandarani and establish an independent committee to review the detention of thousands of peaceful critics and release all those detained for peaceful speech, assembly, or association.
According to his lawyers, security forces arrested Iskandarani on September 24, 2025, at a checkpoint in Matrouh governorate only two days after President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi pardoned prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and five others. Iskandarani was previously convicted in an unjust military trial over his journalistic work and subsequently served seven years in prison between 2015 and 2022.
"Instead of using Alaa Abdel Fattah's release as an opportunity to correct course, Egyptian authorities arbitrarily detained journalist Ismail Iskandarani after a lengthy Orwellian questioning over his Facebook posts," said Amr Magdi, senior Middle East and North Africa researcher at Human Rights Watch. "This is a bellwether moment for the Egyptian government and the only way out of its protracted crisis is to stop unlawfully detaining critics and journalists and release all those arbitrarily detained."
During the early hours of September 24, Iskandarani posted on Facebook that security forces stopped him at a police checkpoint near Matrouh. According to one of his lawyers, Mahienour El-Massry, a National Security Agency officer then seized Iskandarani's phone, blindfolded him, and took him to an unknown location. After several hours, officers brought him to Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP), where, El-Massry said, prosecutors questioned him about 17 posts on his Facebook page. Human Rights Watch reviewed the posts in question and determined that, under human rights law, they constitute protected peaceful speech.
El-Massry said prosecutors refused to let Iskandarani's lawyers read the investigation file and charges but only explained them verbally. Prosecutors ordered Iskandarani detained for 15 days pretrial and charged him with "spreading false news," "belonging to a terrorist organization," and "using a website to promote ideas that incite terrorist acts," El-Massry said.
Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali, who is involved in Iskandarani's case, told Human Rights Watch that Iskandarani was charged in state security Case No. 6469 of 2025, in which Said Eteik, a Sinai activist, has been detained since late August, also over a critical Facebook post. Ali said that authorities transferred Iskandarani to 10th of Ramadan Prison Complex, in Al-Sharqia governorate east of Cairo, and on October 5, an SSSP prosecutor remotely renewed Iskandarani's pretrial detention for another 15 days through a videoconference session. Ali said lawyers were allowed to meet Iskandarani but without the ability to speak confidentially with him.
Human Rights Watch has documented the use of abusive video conference systems in Egypt since 2022 to conduct remote hearings for pretrial detention renewal without bringing detainees before a judge. This system severely undermines due process by preventing a judge from assessing the legality and conditions of detention as well as the detainees' wellbeing. It also violates several fair trial guarantees, including the right to legal counsel.
Iskandarani's lawyers expressed serious concerns over Iskandarani's health in detention because he has diabetes and breathing difficulties. They said he requires a medical machine while sleeping, part of which was missing after being confiscated by National Security Agency officers.
Authorities should end arbitrary detentions, Human Rights Watch said. Rather than piecemeal releases of peaceful critics through sporadic presidential pardons, President Sisi should promptly establish an independent committee consisting of judges, lawyers, and human rights defenders to review the situation of thousands of political opponents, critics, protesters, journalists, and women's rights activists who have been languishing in jails for years. This committee should release everyone found to be detained unlawfully, including those who are being held simply for exercising their human rights of peaceful speech, assembly, or association. In contrast to prior initiatives, the committee should make decisions based on international human rights law and should operate independently from security agencies.
Under Sisi's government, Egypt has ranked among the world's worst countries in regards to detained journalists almost every year since 2014, according to the Committee to Protect Journalists and Reporters Without Borders, with more than 170 journalists jailed in the past decade. Authorities have long used vague and abusive charges such as "spreading false news" to imprison critics and stifle free speech.
The Egyptian Constitution and international human rights law, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples' Rights, guarantee the right the right to free expression and a fair trial. International law prohibits arbitrary arrest or detention and requires states to bring anyone detained promptly before a judge (within 48 hours) and only use pretrial detention exceptionally, when necessary in individual cases. States must provide all detainees with a fair hearing before a competent, independent, and impartial judicial body without undue delay, and a right to appeal to a higher judicial body.
"By arresting peaceful voices like Iskandarani and Eteik, the authorities are demonstrating yet again that they have no real intention of ending unlawful restrictions on freedom of expression," Magdi said. "Genuine reform begins by releasing the unlawfully detained en masse, not by arresting more people."
