Egypt Security Sector Report
This week: four deaths in police custody, hunger strikes in prisons, and Sinai residents resist demolitions. Gaza’s Emergency Committee slams Egypt’s aid handling, while Cairo claims LE578 million was spent on Palestinian patients—without disclosing Hala Company’s cut. Migrants drown off Libya’s coast, Sudanese refugees return home, and activists target Egyptian embassies abroad. Urban collapse in Alexandria, land grabs in Ras al-Ḥikma, and new AOI–China “smart furniture” deals show how militarized development feeds repression at the margins while enriching elites at the centre.
Palestine
I reviewed Displaced in Gaza: Stories from the Gaza Genocide.
Middle East Eye interviewed me:
Amid a wave of direct actions by pro-Palestine activists against Egyptian embassies, initiated by an Egyptian exile in the Netherlands, Sisi stressed in a phone call with the Dutch prime minister on 1 August
the necessity of respecting international law and relevant international agreements, which obligate countries to provide security protection for diplomatic missions and not to harm foreign embassies operating on their soil.
Homeland Security in Mansoura arrested a 21-year-old Palestinian medical student, Malek Nidal, on 28 May. He has disappeared since then.
Following the Maasara Homeland Security branch incident, lawyers report a surge in arrests across multiple governorates.
Egypt has spent US$578 million on medical treatment for Palestinians from Gaza since the start of Israel’s assault 21 months ago, Health Minister Khaled Abdel Ghaffar said in televised remarks on 29 July. The minister did not disclose how much money Egypt extorted from those Palestinians through Ibrahim el-Organi’s Hala Company.
Gaza’s Emergency Committee criticized Egypt on 30 July for its handling of humanitarian aid through the Rafah Crossing, accusing authorities of inflating aid delivery figures and blocking relief efforts. The committee called for the immediate, unconditional opening of Rafah, the removal of bureaucratic barriers, and transparency about actual aid volumes. It also dismissed Egyptian claims of hundreds of trucks entering daily, calling these numbers inaccurate and misleading.
The Egyptian Air Force resumed aid drops over Gaza last week with Israel’s approval.
Egypt was the leading Arab exporter of food products to Israel in June 2025, with shipments valued at US$3.8 million, according to official Israeli trade data. The bulk of Egypt’s exports—worth US$2.6 million—comprised vegetables, fruits, and nuts, while other items included cereals, sugars, coffee, tea, and spices. The total food exports from the Arab states to Israel for the month reached US$8.16 million.
4 Die in Police Custody, Belqas Erupts in Protest
Last week, four men died in Egyptian police custody, sparking protests and renewed scrutiny of detention conditions—raising the number of deaths in Ministry of Interior (MOI)-run facilities to at least 25 since the start of the year.
In Belqas, Daqahlia Governorate, 21-year-old university student Ayman Sabry died on 26 July after being held for a week without timely referral to a prosecutor. His family and lawyer say he was tortured in custody—claims supported by visible injuries and corroborating eyewitness accounts. During a visit shortly before his death, Sabry reportedly collapsed in front of his family. Protests erupted outside the Belqas courthouse following news of his death, with residents clashing with police and demanding accountability.
Social media users accused Major Mohamed Sadeq, the Belqas Criminal Investigation Officer, and his informers, Hossam Maher and Belal Saad, of involvement in the killing.
Major Mohamed Sadeq The MOI denied the torture allegations, stating that Sabry was legally detained over drug and weapons charges and died of sudden illness after being transferred to the hospital. The ministry claimed no foul play was suspected and noted that the prosecution had ordered an autopsy and authorized burial. But rights groups, including the Egyptian Network for Human Rights, insist the state is covering up a killing under torture and are demanding an independent investigation.
On 27 July, just a day after Sabry’s death, 25-year-old Karim Mohamed Abdo also died in custody at the Saff police station in Giza. Rights monitors say he was detained with his brother and held in “inhuman and overcrowded” conditions, with rampant disease and drug abuse inside the cell.
Farid Muhammad Shalabi, a 52-year-old teacher, died after weeks of enforced disappearance and torture at a Homeland Security site in Kafr el-Sheikh. Arrested on 7 July in Borg el-Arab, his body was returned to his family on 29 July without explanation and buried at 2 a.m. under tight police control involving five armored vehicles. Relatives say they were threatened into silence, and the cause of death was officially listed as a stroke.
A young man, Abdel Rahman Ahmed Abdel Rahman, died in custody at the al-Omraniya Police Station in Giza on 2 August, according to his family. They alleged he was beaten and tortured during his detention. The family also said Abdel Rahman had been calling them from inside the holding cell, asking for money in exchange for stopping the torture.
Detainees Strike Over Torture, Transfers
