Egypt: pretrial detention renewals by video

The Egyptian authorities have widely deployed a videoconference system since 2022 to remotely conduct pretrial detention hearings and permanently avoid bringing detainees to court in person, Human Rights Watch said today. The system is inherently abusive as it undermines detainees’ right to be brought physically before a judge to assess the legality and conditions of detention, the well-being of detainees, and for the detainees to be able to speak to the judge directly and to their lawyers in private.