We, the undersigned Egyptian and international civil society organizations, welcome the decision of President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to not sign the draft Criminal Procedure Code into law and instead to send it back to parliament for revision. The House of Representatives has since announced that it will convene an urgent session on October 1 on the matter and has invited the Prime Minister to make a statement on the draft law. .هذا البيان المشترك متوفر باللغة العربية أيضاًIn August 2024, Egypt’s House of Representatives began discussing a draft Criminal Procedure Code that, if enacted into law, would have set the country’s criminal justice system back decades. We ask that a wide-ranging consultation process that brings in a diverse group of Egyptian legal, judicial, and human rights practitioners and experts be held to meaningfully inform the process. SignatoriesAmnesty InternationalArab Reform InitiativeAssociation for Freedom of Thought and Expression for Human Rights (AFTE)Committee for Justice (CFJ)Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)Egyptian Front for Human RightsEgyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)Gulf Centre for Human Rights (GCHR)Human Rights WatchHuMENA for Human Rights and Civic EngagementInternational Commission of Jurists (ICJ)Law and Democracy Support Foundation (LDSF)MENA Rights GroupMiddle East Democracy Center (MEDC)Najda For Human RightsREDWORD for Human Rights & Freedom of ExpressionRefugees Platform In Egypt (RPE)The Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP)Their Right – To Defend Prisoners of Conscience