Egypt passes communication surveillance law amid privacy concern

In a move viewed by experts and free speech advocates as arguably legalisation of an already present situation, Egypt authorised earlier this month the indefinite surveillance of the citizens’ private correspondence.

On 13 January, the lower house of the parliament passed an amendment to Article 79 of the Criminal Procedures Code that gives members of the public prosecution office and chief prosecutors across the country the right to conduct surveillance of written, and/or audiovisual forms of communication.

The article has sparked backlash from lawyers and human rights defenders who argue that it violates the Egyptian constitution, which guarantees the right to privacy. Correspondence can only be under surveillance with a court order for a justifiable reason and a definite time, as per Article 57 of the constitution.

Status quo exposed

While rights groups see the law as paving the way for the security apparatus to impose further restrictions on civil rights, already in place since President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi seized power in 2013, the pre-dominantly pro-Sisi parliament defended the move as necessary for national security. 

“The law has turned the exception in to a rule, allowing a prosecutor, who is supposed to represent the Egyptian people in court, to be an investigator instead,” lawyer Samy Saeid told The New Arab.

“At the end of the day, the amendment is nothing but a status quo exposed and made clearer,” Saeid added.

Amr Magdi, senior researcher at the Middle East and North Africa Division, of Human Rights Watch, agrees with Saeid.

“Instead of ending violations, authorities are making them permanent and giving abusive security agencies a legal cover to continue [committing] them,” Magdi told TNA.

“Surveillance should only be ordered by a competent court or judge, for a limited period and for a specific reason based on material evidence that justifies it,” he added.

Communication surveillance remains no news, as it has reportedly been conducted by security agencies even before the invention of the internet and mobile phones.

“Everyone in the remotest village in Egypt knows that security agencies practice mass surveillance on all sorts of communication, as well as target activists and regime critics. Now this will be written yet again in another abusive law,” Magdi said.

A prominent cybersecurity, who requested to remain anonymous due to security concerns, affirmed Magdi’s statements, saying that “mass surveillance has been intensified in Egypt following the 25 January Revolution in 2011.”

“Security officers are well-known for [reportedly] abusing their power to force entities tasked with regulating telecommunications, including the National Regulatory Authority, to track the communication activities of any citizen or group they want,” the expert remarked to TNA. 

“The security apparatus has always been under the impression that they are above the law and the constitution and act accordingly, a concept, which dates back to the times of the monarchy even before the 1952 Revolution [marking the advent of military rule in Egypt],” the expert added.

In September 2023, local independent news outlets Mada Masr reported, citing former presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawi as alleging that his iPhone was hacked several times by European commercial spyware manufacturer Cytrox’s Predator while he had been preparing to run in the election against Sisi.

“When security institutions, whether state police, national security or the different intelligence agencies find it difficult to keep devices under surveillance such as iPhones, which in a way offer users minimum privacy requirements, they resort to spyware such as Cytrox [reportedly] implanted on Tantawi’s device,” the expert noted.

“The virus enabled the authorities to spy on the device itself and all the applications installed on it. Tantawi was expected to be cautious about what he said over regular phone calls. But all forms of communication made via encrypted electronic applications such as FaceTime were likely monitored,” the expert explained.

A double-edged sword

Even though social media platforms have played a significant role in mobilising angry masses against repressive regimes, which eventually led to the wave of pro-democracy protests known as “the Arab Spring“, such tools may have become a double-edged sword, especially for the Egyptian opposition.

Throughout the past decade of Sisi‘s rule, thousands of activists, members of political groups and regime critics have been arrested and accused of a set of charges that included “misusing social media tools and disseminating false news, also on social media outlets.”

“It was essential through time to tailor new accusations that fit the nature of the era when building cases against anyone who swims against the political current,” a security analyst told TNA, speaking under the condition of anonymity due to the subject’s sensitivity.

“But there are now rising concerns that the amended law article may facilitate for the authorities to bluntly nail regime critics by misusing their private correspondence in indicting them. Only time will tell,” the analyst concluded.