Extradition from Egypt: How the Procedure Works and What an Extradition Lawyer Does

If you or a relative is arrested, do not treat an INTERPOL notice as the full request or assume ordinary appeal deadlines apply. Identify the requesting state, legal instrument, detention order and authority handling the file.

Which Egyptian law is in force in October 2026?

Law No. 140 of 2014 on surrender of accused persons and transfer of convicted persons remains important. Article 1 allows the President, without prejudice to applicable laws and treaties, to approve surrender or transfer to a person’s home country for trial or sentence enforcement. The route requires a submission by the Public Prosecutor and Cabinet approval, and is conditioned on the State’s supreme interests. Article 2 brought the law into force the day after publication; it was published on 13 November 2014. The law does not itself set a complete procedure, a general maximum detention period or a universal appeal route.

Law No. 174 of 2025 enacted a new Criminal Procedure Code with more detailed international-cooperation provisions, but Law No. 160 of 2026 postponed its commencement to 1 October 2027. The published future extradition provisions, including Articles 513–515, are therefore not current law on 26 October 2026. Until commencement, Law No. 150 of 1950 and Law No. 140 of 2014 remain in force, subject to applicable treaties and other legislation.

The new Code’s extradition-specific provisions include presentation to the Public Prosecution within 24 hours, successive detention periods of up to 15 days each with a total cap of 60 days, and a seven-day appeal period. Those provisions are not yet in force. The separate current constitutional safeguards on arrest, including Article 54, must be assessed on their own terms. Confirm the law in force on the actual dates.

Which treaty governs the request from the foreign state?

No single treaty covers every request to Egypt. First establish whether a bilateral treaty or multilateral convention applies to the requesting state and alleged offence. Under Articles 93 and 151 of the Constitution, ratified and published treaties have domestic legal effect; where no applicable agreement exists, Egyptian state reporting describes international custom and reciprocity as relevant. Special laws may also address particular offences, including trafficking and migrant smuggling.

Who examines the request: the prosecutor, the President or a court?

In its report to the UN Committee on Migrant Workers, Egypt says the Office for International Cooperation, Judgment Enforcement and Prisoners’ Welfare studies incoming requests and investigates them. The person sought is informed of the charges and evidence, their statement is recorded, and documents from both sides are attached. The report identifies the Public Prosecutor as competent to decide extradition requests before, during or after a criminal case. It also says a refusal based on substantial torture risk binds all state authorities.

Read this alongside Article 1 of Law No. 140 of 2014, which provides for presidential approval after the Public Prosecutor’s submission and Cabinet approval where supreme state interests require it. Available sources do not establish one court process for every request. Do not assume a Cairo court hears every case or appeal; check the treaty, decision and stage.

A Red Notice asks police to locate a person and, where national law permits, provisionally arrest them; it is not a worldwide arrest warrant or a final extradition decision. Its local effect does not replace the need to identify the legal basis for surrender. See how to check whether an INTERPOL Red Notice exists.

What happens after a request reaches Egypt?

This is a practical map of the reported process, not a statutory deadline chart. A treaty may change the route, required papers or time allowed for provisional arrest.

A deadline may appear in the bilateral treaty or the specific provisional-arrest order, and its trigger may be the arrest or another event defined by the instrument. Do not substitute a period found in a different treaty or another country’s code; calculate the deadline from the exact text and dates in this file.

How long can a person be detained, and is bail available?

Do not assume Egypt has one maximum extradition-detention period for every case. Law No. 140 of 2014 sets no general cap, and the accessible current materials reviewed do not establish one universal period or bail test. The applicable treaty may regulate provisional arrest and the time for receipt of formal papers; the detention order’s legal basis also matters.

Counsel should inspect the arrest record, provisional-arrest request, detention order and renewals, treaty article, date the formal request arrived, surrender decision and proof of notice. Put all dates in one chronology. If an order cites the future 24-hour or 60-day rule, verify that a 2027 provision has not been applied prematurely.

Release or bail cannot be promised from general information. A challenge to detention is distinct from a challenge to the extradition decision, and the competent authority may differ. Detailed refusal grounds, remedies and deadlines belong on the separate Egypt extradition refusal and appeals page; verify them against the actual order and treaty before filing.

Can Egypt extradite an Egyptian citizen or a dual national?

Egyptian state reports describe the position as non-extradition of Egyptian nationals and refer to Article 62 of the Constitution, which protects citizens against expulsion and denial of return. The text speaks expressly of expulsion and return, so assess nationality with the applicable treaty and current Egyptian advice rather than quoting Article 62 in isolation. Dual nationality does not mean a second passport automatically makes someone a foreign national for this purpose. Check citizenship records, Egyptian identity documents, name variations and the nationality asserted in the request. See extradition and dual citizenship.

Non-surrender does not automatically end the underlying allegations. Domestic prosecution or another form of cooperation depends on Egyptian jurisdiction, evidence, the offence and the applicable treaty. Do not assume a foreign sentence will simply be transferred for enforcement in Egypt: Law No. 140 of 2014 refers to transfer of convicted persons, but the statutory conditions and treaty must be checked.

What safeguards should counsel examine before surrender?

The first review should be specific: confirm identity and nationality; whether the request is for prosecution or sentence enforcement; whether the treaty covers the offence; whether required documents and translations were supplied; and whether limitation periods or a previous final decision matter. Dual criminality—the requirement, where applicable, that conduct be criminal in both states—must be tested under the actual treaty, not assumed to be identical in every case. See dual criminality in extradition cases.

Article 91 of the Constitution prohibits extradition of political refugees. Article 3 of the Convention against Torture prohibits surrender where substantial grounds indicate danger of torture. Egypt’s report says the Public Prosecutor may reject a request on that basis and that the refusal binds all state authorities. This does not determine the outcome: evidence must be concrete, current and linked to the person’s circumstances. Other refusal grounds depend on the treaty and domestic law and are covered in the linked sibling guide.

Do not confuse extradition with immigration removal or deportation. A migration order does not itself prove that an extradition request exists. Obtain the document authorising the proposed action and identify its statute and issuing authority. See extradition versus deportation.

What should the family and lawyer prepare now?

Because there is no single verified timetable for all extradition cases, an organised file helps prevent avoidable delay. The family should appoint a lawyer able to obtain Egyptian records and coordinate with counsel in the requesting state. Preserve originals and send clear copies; do not alter messages, delete records or contact witnesses in a way that could be viewed as interference.

• Full name in each script, date and place of birth, all citizenships, passport numbers and lawful name-change records.
• Arrest date, time and place; police unit or prosecutor if known; copies of orders, notices and receipts.
• Requesting state, alleged offence, foreign case number, named court or prosecutor, and whether the request concerns a charge or final conviction.
• The treaty or convention cited, any provisional-arrest request, the formal request and the dates each document was received.
• Relevant Egyptian proceedings, previous final judgments, pardons or sentence-completion records.
• Medical records and reliable, individualised evidence of torture risk, if that concern genuinely arises.
• Translations, family contact details and a dated log of requests, decisions and detention renewals.

Ask counsel to answer five questions in writing: which instrument governs; who holds the file; what decision has actually been made; what deadline runs from which event; and who can review detention or surrender. If a point is not verified, record it as unresolved rather than guessing.

Hypothetical example: a foreign national is arrested in Cairo on a notice

Hypothetical: A Polish citizen is stopped in Cairo after officers identify an INTERPOL alert linked to a Polish case. The alert alone does not show whether a formal request has arrived, which treaty applies or whether Egypt has decided to surrender the person. Counsel should confirm the arrest basis and date, obtain the Public Prosecution file and check the bilateral treaty with Poland alongside any applicable multilateral convention. If the case is at provisional-arrest stage, calculate the formal-request deadline under the actual treaty, not another country’s law. Separately assess nationality, the sufficiency of the request and any evidenced human-rights risk. This example predicts no outcome; it shows why the request, treaty and decision must be identified before choosing a remedy.

How an extradition lawyer helps at each stage

Early work is to identify the live legal route and replace assumptions with documents. Counsel should obtain the arrest and request records, check the treaty and its reservations, compare identity records, arrange interpretation and build a chronology separating arrest, receipt of the formal request, prosecutorial action and any executive approval. Counsel can submit relevant evidence to the authority handling the file and coordinate with foreign counsel to obtain certified charging documents, court records, judgments or proof of sentence status.

If surrender is considered, counsel should explain which issues the treaty allows, who decides each issue, and whether detention review or interim protection is available. Consent is not simply a waiver of hearing; depending on the instrument, it may affect procedure and safeguards. Admissibility, executive approval and physical handover are distinct. If no general appeal route is verified, identify the decision urgently and obtain specialist Egyptian advice.

For the general sequence from foreign request to final decision, see how extradition works from request to final decision. This page covers the country-wide framework, not the review of an individual detention order or court file.

This information is general and is not a substitute for advice on a specific request. The site’s team coordinates cross-border defence with local counsel; to discuss a case, use the consultation request page.