Source: Amnesty International –
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.