Overview

• On September 21, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi refused to sign the draft and returned it to the House of Representatives, citing Article 242’s ban on appeals as incompatible with justice and international human rights standards.
• More than 20 domestic and international organizations, including Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, and the International Commission of Jurists, welcomed the decision after pressing for the bill’s rejection.
• Parliament set an urgent session for October 1 and invited the Prime Minister to discuss the presidency’s objections with lawmakers.
• Rights analyses say the draft would entrench abuses by normalizing extended pretrial detention, restricting access to case files and lawyers, granting police added immunity, and expanding videoconference hearings that weaken fair-trial safeguards.
• The presidency signaled support for stronger protections such as home privacy and alternatives to pretrial detention, while the bill’s fate depends on the revisions Parliament pursues.