Rotation- Another Way of Violating the Rights of Egyptian Citizens
The Egyptian Security has been manipulating the Egyptian law and judiciary for many years.
“Rotation”, as soon as the officer says these words, defendants know that they will be deprived of sleep or rest for at least 3 weeks.
Although it is a routine procedure to check whether the defendant is wanted in other cases; it was being used as a means of pressuring defendants and scaring them to a point where they admit committing crimes they did not do, only to avoid going through this procedure.
This procedure was made to defendants to check if they were charged in any other cases than the ones they are arrested for. The defendant is usually taken, under heavy security, to various security directorates and police stations in the governorates to obtain a paper stating that he is not wanted in other cases.
This journey used to take a lot of time and effort and movement with different kinds of transportations and it could take more than 3 weeks or a month until the defendant’s check-up is completed.
This procedure is no longer used by the Egyptian security due to technological advancement, as the police officer can do a check-up by entering the name on the Ministry of Interior’s network which links all security directorates together.
Rotation of cases occurs when detainees are charged with “fabricated crimes allegedly committed during their detention, to further abuse them and ensure the extension of the renewal periods of their pretrial detention or as a preemptive measure if the court decides to release them.”
Pre-trial detention according to Egyptian law can last for two years, but this period is often extended by fabricating new cases where the investigation often takes years.
In overcrowded Egyptian prisons, Egyptian political prisoners are at risk of staying for very long years under new charges that the security authorities may fabricate for them before releasing them, which means extending their detention automatically for an unknown period. In Egyptian prisons, there are more than 60,000 political prisoners from all spectrums of Egyptian society, who are being held for having a dissident opinion and using their right to freedom of expression.