Flag of Egypt

How to read it

Article 223 of the Egyptian Constitution says the national flag consists of three colours, black, white and red, with the eagle of Saladin in golden yellow, and leaves the rest to law. Law No. 41 of 2014 on the national flag, anthem and salute, issued on 29 May 2014, sets the design: a rectangle whose width is two-thirds of its length (2:3), made of three equal stripes the length of the flag, red at the top, white in the middle and black at the bottom, with the eagle, taken from the “Eagle of Saladin”, centred on the white stripe, following the model annexed to the law. It repealed Law No. 144 of 1984 on the Egyptian flag, issued by President Hosni Mubarak on 2 October 1984.

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Yemen’s and Syria’s flags side by side

Yemen’s flag has the same three stripes with nothing on them: its constitution lists red, white and black, starting from the top. Syria’s 2012 constitution gave it the same stripes too, with two green five-pointed stars in the middle of the white. In April 2025 a new Syrian flag, three red stars on a white stripe between green and black stripes, was raised in front of the United Nations headquarters in New York. A golden eagle on the white stripe is Egypt’s.

What the 2014 flag law sets

Law No. 41 of 2014 bans raising or displaying the flag damaged, worn out or faded, adding words, pictures or designs to it, and using it as a trademark or part of one. The flag is lowered to half-mast only for national mourning, under rules the President sets. Insulting the flag in public carries up to a year in prison and a fine of up to 30,000 Egyptian pounds, doubled for a repeat offence.