were forcibly evicted and detained for Abdelnasser Salama after he called for the protesting. Authorities discriminated president’s resignation. He and 24 other against Christians in law and practice, and journalists remained in prison following prosecuted members of religious minorities convictions or pending investigations into and those espousing religious opinions not accusations of “misusing social media”, sanctioned by the state. Refugees and “spreading false news” and "terrorism". migrants were arbitrarily detained In May Hossam Shaaban, a doctor involved indefinitely for crossing borders irregularly, in relief work, was arrested after he criticized and forcibly expelled without due process or the authorities’ ban on solidarity protests access to asylum procedures. during the Israeli offensive on Gaza. He BACKGROUND remained detained pending investigations into “terrorism” accusations. In October, the president lifted the nationwide Authorities continued to block at least 600 state of emergency in place since April 2017. news, human rights and other websites, Within days, parliament approved legislative according to rights groups. changes expanding the jurisdiction of military FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION courts over civilians, eroding fair trial guarantees and criminalizing reporting on the Officers at the National Security Agency military. (NSA), a special police force, intimidated Sporadic attacks by armed groups in North human rights defenders and political activists Sinai continued. The military, which by unlawfully summoning and subjecting announced fatalities in its ranks and the them to coercive questioning and 1 killing of 122 militants in clashes, released a extrajudicial police probation measures. video in August depicting the unlawful killing Authorities arbitrarily detained and unfairly of two unarmed men by the military. In prosecuted tens of human rights defenders October, the president granted the defence and opposition politicians on unfounded minister exceptional powers to impose charges of “terrorism” and “spreading false curfews, close schools and evacuate North news”. In July, Hossam Bahgat, director of a Sinai residents. prominent NGO, was convicted and fined for A national budget adopted in June failed to peacefully expressing his views on Egypt's meet the constitutionally mandated allocation 2020 elections. Investigative judges of 3% and 6% of GDP to health and interrogated at least five NGO directors in education, respectively, and reduced July and revived investigations into tax spending on health insurance and medicine. evasion by NGOs as part of the politically In March, 32 states condemned human motivated decade-long criminal investigation rights violations in Egypt at the UN Human into the activities and funding of human Rights Council. rights organizations known as Case 173. In September, authorities launched a five- Authorities dropped investigations against 12 year national human rights strategy praising NGOs but continued to subject their directors the legal framework and overlooking and staff to travel bans and asset freezes. At concerns over past and ongoing human least 15 others remained under investigation rights violations. and subject to similar restrictions. FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION Authorities arbitrarily added 408 people, including activists and opposition politicians, Authorities continued to severely repress the to the “list of terrorists”, effectively banning right to freedom of expression and clamp them from engaging in civic or political work down on critical voices offline and online. and travelling abroad for five years. In Security forces arbitrarily arrested at least November, the Supreme Administrative Court six journalists for their work or critical views. upheld a decision to disbar six lawyers on the On 19 July, they arrested journalist “list of terrorists”. Amnesty International Report 2021/22 153