The Difference Between Opposition, Appeal, Cassation, Retrial and Petition for Reconsideration: Why Confusing Them Costs You Your Rights

One of the questions we receive most from clients: "A judgment was issued against me — what do I do now?" — and the answer differs completely depending on the stage you are actually at. Five legal terms are often confused, and this confusion is not a formal detail: it costs decisive legal deadlines, and if the deadline passes, the right is lost permanently no matter how sound the legal position is.

First: Opposition

Opposition is an exceptional remedy available only when a judgment is issued against you in your absence (a default judgment) and you were not properly notified in a way that allowed you to attend. Opposition returns the case to the same court that issued the judgment, which sets it aside, and you are retried anew as if the default judgment had never existed.

Second: Appeal

Appeal is available when a judgment is issued while you are present (or properly notified) and you do not agree with it. You file the appeal before a higher court, which re-examines the whole matter anew — facts and law together — and may uphold, modify or completely annul the judgment.

Text of the Law — Legislative Update (Law No. 1 of 2024) For the first time in the history of Egyptian criminal litigation, the accused has the right to appeal convictions issued by the Criminal Court itself — before the "Criminal Appeals Court" created by Article 419 bis of the Code of Criminal Procedure, whereas felony judgments used to be challenged directly by Cassation with no appeal stage. The deadline for this appeal is forty days from the date the judgment is issued (Article 419 bis (4)), and the Criminal Appeals Court follows the procedures prescribed for misdemeanor appeals (Article 419 bis (3)).

In this regard, the Court of Cassation has held that:

This legislative provision is settled in the case law of the Court of Cassation, as confirmed in Appeal No. 1138 of Judicial Year 96 (session of 12 May 2026) and Appeal No. 3969 of Judicial Year 95 (session of 28 March 2026).

Appeals No. 1138 of Judicial Year 96 and No. 3969 of Judicial Year 95 — Criminal Circuits of the Court of Cassation

Third: Cassation

The Court of Cassation is a stage completely different from the previous two. It does not retry you nor review the facts — it reviews the judgment itself: was the law applied correctly? Is the judgment sufficiently reasoned? Is it tainted by a fundamental nullity in the procedures? If the answer to any of these is yes, there is a ground for cassation worth appealing.

Text of the Law — Legislative Update (Law No. 11 of 2017) This law amended Article 39/2 of Law No. 57 of 1959 (on the cases and procedures of appeal before the Court of Cassation) so that it now reads: "If the appeal is based on a nullity in the judgment or a nullity in the procedures that affected it, the Court shall quash the judgment and examine its merits" — meaning the Court of Cassation now has the right to "take up" the merits of the case and decide it itself in this situation, instead of merely quashing the judgment and remanding it to the trial court to rule again, which used to prolong litigation before the amendment.

In this regard, the Court of Cassation has held that:

This amendment is one of the "laws regulating methods of appeal" and therefore applies only to judgments issued from 1 May 2017 onward, in application of the principle of non-retroactivity of procedural laws to procedures completed before they came into force.

General Assembly of Criminal Matters — Court of Cassation

The practical rule: each method of appeal has a different deadline that runs from the date the judgment is notified or issued, and if the legally prescribed deadline passes, the right to appeal is lost permanently and cannot be remedied.

Fourth: Retrial (Default Felony Judgment)

"Retrial" is a concept entirely independent from opposition, and this is the point that causes the most confusion: opposition (as explained above) is a remedy available only against default judgments issued in misdemeanors and contraventions — Egyptian law (Article 395 of the Code of Criminal Procedure and its counterparts) did not permit opposition against default judgments issued in felonies. So what if a defendant is sentenced in absentia in a felony and then is arrested or appears voluntarily? Here the default judgment falls automatically and by force of law as soon as he appears or is arrested — without needing to file any request or grievance — and he is tried again before the Criminal Court, and this is the "retrial".

The fundamental difference between opposition and retrial: opposition is a "grievance" filed by the convicted person himself within a specified deadline, whereas retrial in felonies is, by force of law, a fresh trial and not a grievance — it falls automatically upon appearance or arrest, and the accused has no right to "cling" to the default judgment even if it was lighter than the new judgment. This leads us to the most important practical consequence: since the retrial court tries the accused anew with full freedom and is not bound by anything stated in the default judgment, it may increase the penalty even absent an appeal by the Public Prosecution against the default judgment — which is not permitted in other methods of appeal (where the principle of "no prejudice to the appellant from his own appeal" applies).

In this regard, the Court of Cassation has held that:

"Retrial is not based on a grievance filed by the convicted person; it is by force of law a fresh trial", and "the retrial court decides the case with full freedom, not bound by anything stated in the default judgment, so it may increase the penalty without an appeal by the Public Prosecution against that judgment, and it may also reduce the penalty." The Court explained in the same judgment that Egyptian law (Article 33 of Law No. 57 of 1959) grants the right to appeal a default judgment issued in a felony to the Public Prosecution, the civil claimant and the party civilly liable — each as far as concerns him — and not to the convicted person himself, because the default judgment gives him no right that he could "cling" to.

Appeal No. 1 of Judicial Year 30 — General Assembly of Criminal Matters

The right of the victim (civil claimant) at the retrial stage: Since retrial is a fresh trial and not a continuation of the default judgment, a victim who had not joined the case as a civil claimant while it was heard in absentia is not deprived of that right, and may still intervene and claim civil rights before the retrial court when it re-examines the case, in compliance with the general rules that permit civil claims before the criminal court at any stage of the criminal case and before pleadings are closed. Conversely, the civil claimant who had already joined at the default stage retains his capacity and claims at the retrial stage, and is not considered to have abandoned his civil claim merely because the default criminal judgment fell.

Fifth: Petition for Reconsideration

"Petition for reconsideration" is entirely different from the retrial explained above, despite the similar name. Opposition, appeal, cassation and retrial are all methods of appeal filed against a judgment that is still in the litigation stage (default or not yet final). A petition for reconsideration, however, is an extraordinary and highly exceptional remedy filed against a final and binding judgment in which all ordinary methods of appeal have been exhausted, and it may be resorted to only in specific cases exhaustively listed in the Code of Criminal Procedure — most notably: the emergence of new facts or evidence after the judgment that would prove the convicted person's innocence; a person being sentenced for an incident and another person later sentenced for the same incident such that the two judgments cannot be reconciled; a judgment based on false testimony or an expert report later proven forged; or a criminal conviction based on a civil judgment that was subsequently annulled or proven forged. The competent authority is the Court of Cassation, and no specific deadline is required for filing it (unlike other methods of appeal) because it is tied to an exceptional factual circumstance that may emerge at any time.

In this regard, the Court of Cassation has held that:

Judgments of the Court of Cassation and judgments of Criminal Courts sitting in chambers are considered final judgments that may not be challenged by any method of appeal, unless one of the cases of reconsideration provided in the Code of Criminal Procedure is met, or a ground of disqualification arises for one of the members of the panel that issued the judgment (Article 47 of Law No. 57 of 1959, added by Law No. 74 of 2007, and Article 147 of the Code of Civil and Commercial Procedure).

General Assembly of Criminal Matters — Court of Cassation

Effects of the Judgment in Each Method

The most important practical difference between the five methods of appeal is the effect that filing them has on the enforcement of the judgment:

Opposition: Filing it immediately suspends enforcement of the default judgment (except in exceptional cases provided by law, such as certain judgments issued in contravention matters), and the default judgment is considered as if it never existed until the opposition is decided anew.

Appeal: It suspends enforcement of the first-instance judgment in ordinary cases, and the case is heard again in full before a higher court; the appellate judgment entirely replaces the first-instance judgment — whether by upholding, modifying or annulling it.

Cassation: As a rule, an appeal by Cassation in criminal matters does not suspend enforcement of the contested judgment, except where the judgment is a death sentence (in which case suspension is mandatory), or where the Court orders suspension in certain other cases. If the appeal is accepted in form and substance, the Court of Cassation either quashes the judgment and remands the case to the trial court to be decided anew by a differently constituted panel, or — after the 2017 amendment — decides the merits itself when the ground for cassation is a nullity in the judgment or in the procedures that affected it.

Retrial: A default judgment issued in a felony falls by force of law as soon as the accused appears or is arrested — with no need to request a stay of enforcement, since the judgment is considered as if it never existed, and an entirely new trial begins before the Criminal Court.

Petition for reconsideration: Filing the petition does not in itself suspend enforcement of the final judgment unless the Court of Cassation expressly orders suspension when accepting the petition in form. If the petition is accepted on the merits, the case is heard anew before the trial court, and the person previously convicted may be acquitted.

The Rights of the Accused, the Victim, the Prosecution and the Court in Each Method

Right of the accused (convicted person): He has the right to oppose any default judgment issued against him in a misdemeanor or contravention, the right to appeal first-instance judgments he is not satisfied with (including felony judgments after the 2024 amendment), and the right to appeal by Cassation against final judgments tainted by a legal defect. As for a default judgment issued against him in a felony, he has no "right" to cling to it or object to it — since the judgment falls automatically upon his appearance or arrest and he must be retried. He alone (or the Public Prosecution in his favor, or his heirs after him in certain cases) has the right to file a petition for reconsideration — a petition established in the convicted person's interest that may not be misused to increase his penalty.

Right of the victim (civil claimant): He has no direct right to appeal by opposition, appeal or Cassation the criminal part of the judgment (this is an original right of the Public Prosecution and the accused), but his right is fully preserved as regards the civil part: he may appeal and appeal by Cassation what concerns his civil rights specifically, and he may intervene as a civil claimant before the retrial court even if he had not joined as a civil claimant at the default-judgment stage, as explained above, and he retains his capacity and claims if he had already joined before.

Right of the prosecuting authority (Public Prosecution): The Public Prosecution, as an original party to the criminal case, has the right to appeal judgments and to appeal them by Cassation, whether in favor of the accused or against him; it alone holds the right to initiate the criminal case in the first place and the right to appeal by Cassation in the interest of the law in certain cases even if the convicted person did not appeal; and it alone (besides the civil claimant and the party civilly liable, each as far as concerns him) has the right to appeal a default judgment issued in a felony. As for the petition for reconsideration, the Public Prosecution may file it in the convicted person's interest in the cases specified by law, but may not file it to his detriment.

Right of the court: The court's role differs according to the method. In opposition and appeal, the court re-examines the matter in full (facts and law). In cassation, the Court of Cassation's role is supervisory over the application of the law and not a trial on the merits — it is a "court of law" and not a "court of fact", and it does not review the assessment of evidence except in specific exceptional cases (such as contradicting what is established in the case papers), although since the 2017 amendment it has the right to take up and decide the merits in case of nullity of the judgment or procedures. In retrial, the Criminal Court tries the accused in a fresh trial with full freedom, without being bound by the earlier default judgment. As for the petition for reconsideration, the Court of Cassation decides whether to accept it, and if accepted, it refers the case to the trial court to retry the accused in light of the new fact or evidence.

Important note: the principles mentioned above are the general settled rules of the Egyptian Code of Criminal Procedure, and the details of their application may differ from one case to another according to the type of offense, the level of the court, and the circumstances of each case. To obtain an accurate legal characterization of your situation, direct contact with the firm is the right way.

Conclusion

Before deciding on any step, you must determine precisely: is the judgment default or in presence? If default, is it in a misdemeanor (so the route is opposition) or in a felony (so the route is retrial, automatically upon appearance or arrest)? Is the judgment first-instance or final? If final, is there a real ground for cassation? Is the judgment binding, with all ordinary methods of appeal exhausted, and has a new fact or evidence emerged that warrants a petition for reconsideration? The answers to these questions determine the right route among the five, and any error could cost you your right entirely.

Do you have a judgment and are not sure exactly where you stand?

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This article is general information for legal awareness purposes and does not replace legal advice for your specific case.