in prison for 1748 days

Mohamed Adel is a political activist in Egypt and the cofounder of the April 6 youth movement. He also took part in the Kefaya movement in 2005. In November 2013, he was tried by a Cairo misdemeanour court on charges for unlawful protest and for allegedly assaulting police officers. He was sentenced to three years in prison, along with prominent political activists and April 6 members Ahmed Maher and Ahmed Douma. This deprivation of liberty was deemed arbitrary in an opinion adopted by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in 2015. Mr Adel was first released on probation in July 2017 but he was required to reside within the police station every night from 6 pm to 6 am. 

On 18 June 2018, Mohamed Adel was detained during one of his holding periods and was handed a 15-day detention order by Daqahlia prosecution, pending investigations into charges of spreading false news. He was put into the Mansoura Prison and started a two-week hunger strike to protest his detention conditions. He was added to case 5606/2018, in which he is charged with joining a terrorist group in addition to spreading false news. Since then, the Mansoura Criminal Court has continuously renewed his detention every 45 days.

On 21 December 2020, the Supreme State Security Prosecution included him in state security case 467/2020, in which he faces further charges of joining a terrorist group and committing a crime for financing terrorism.  

 On 27 January 2021, the prosecutor ordered his release in case 5606/2018 on a bail of LE10,000 after more than two years spent in pre-trial detention. However, on 8 February Mohamed Adel was investigated in a new case 4118/2018 where he faces similar charges and the Prosecutor decided to held him in pre-trial detention for 15 days. 

On 22 February Mohamed Adel started a hunger strike to protest the Prosecutor's decision to renew his detention in the deliberate absence of his lawyers.

On 14 September 2022, the Mansoura Criminal Court decided to release Mr Adel on 5000 EGP bail. The Prosecution appealed this decision and Mr Adel's was once again renewed. On 19 January 2023, the same court decided to adjourn his detention renewal assessment to an unknown date.

in prison for 1612 days

Hoda Abdel Moneim is a human rights lawyer who works on documenting human rights abuses, including incidents of enforced disappearance. She formerly served on Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights in 2012-2013. Ms Abdel Moneim was also a spokesperson for the Women’s Revolutionary Coalition of Egypt, which opposed to the removal of former President Mohamed Morsi in 2013. 

She was arrested at her house in Nasr City (Cairo) in the middle of the night on 1 November 2018 by Egyptian authorities. Ms Abdel Moneim was not informed of the reasons of her arrest. She was blindfolded and put in a police vehicle, and the authorities didn’t inform her family of where she was being brought. She appeared again on 21 November at the Supreme State Security Prosecution in New Cairo after almost three weeks of forced disappearance. State security prosecution added her to case 1552/2018 in which she faces charges of joining and funding a terrorist organisation and incitement to harm the national economy. Ms Abdel Moneim was held in pre-trial detention in an unknown location until she was transferred to Qanater prison in January 2019. Since then, Cairo’s criminal court has continuously renewed her pre-trial detention for 45 days at a time. 

During her detention, her health condition seriously degraded. Ms Abdel Moneim is diagnosed with deep vein thrombosis which requires regular medication. In February 2020, she had a heart attack and was transferred to the prison’s hospital. She later appeared in front of the state security prosecutor in a wheelchair. In November 2020 she was diagnosed with kidney diseases, but a request to see a specialist was refused. According to Amnesty International, as of 18 February 2022, Ms Abdel Moneim is in urgent need of medical care to address her heart disease, but the prison authorities refuse to transfer her to an external hospital.

On 27 November 2020, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) granted its 2020 Human Rights Award to Hoda Abdel Moneim and six other Egyptian lawyers who are currently in pre-trial detention in a number of different cases, for their role in defending human rights. 

Ms Abdel Moneim's sentence hearing is scheduled for 5 March 2023.

Hoda Abdel Moneim is married and has four daughters. Two of them regularly post videos on Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness about their mum’s critical health condition under #FreeHoda. 

in prison for 1018 days

Dr Ahmed Shawky Amasha is a veterinarian, environmental and human rights defender, a member of the Kefaya opposition group, and a trade unionist.

He is a former president of the Egyptian Veterinarians Syndicate and has been active in advocating for environmental and human rights. He campaigned against enforced disappearance and co-founded the League for the Families of the Disappeared which provides legal support and organises media campaigns. He was also outspoken on pushing for the closure of Scorpion prison where detainees are frequently tortured.

This was not the first time Dr Ahmed Amasha has been forcibly disappeared and detained. On 10 March 2017, he was arrested and held in an undisclosed location before appearing before the prosecution on 1 April 2017. He was later charged with “belonging to a banned group” and imprisoned at the infamous Tora Prison. He was reportedly tortured and failed to receive adequate medical care. Several UN Special Procedures mandate holders sent appeals to the Egyptian authorities on his behalf. He was released on bail on 4 October 2019, despite receiving a release order in September 2019.

On 17 June 2020, he was arrested from his home after his wife was threatened into revealing his whereabouts, and forcibly disappeared. His son posted about the arrest on Facebook the following day, stating that they did not know where he had been taken. After 25 days of enforced disappearance, he appeared before the supreme state security prosecution on 12 July and was investigated in state security case 1360/2019, on the charge of joining a terrorist group.

The European Parliament called for his immediate and unconditional release in its urgency resolution on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Egypt of December 2020, and in its resolution on the human rights situation in Egypt of November 2022.

Patrick George Zaki is a gender and human rights researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). Since August 2019, he has been on leave from EIPR to undertake a graduate programme at the University of Bologna in Italy.

Early in the morning on 7 February 2020, he was stopped at Cairo airport while travelling back from Italy for a brief family visit. He subsequently disappeared for 24 hours, during which time his lawyers say that he was beaten, electrocuted, verbally abused, threatened with rape and questioned about his work. He appeared before the prosecution the following day, where he was handed a 15-day pre-trial detention order. He is being accused of several charges, including publishing fake news, inciting protests, calling for the state to be overthrown, managing a social media account that aims to undermine social order and public safety, and inciting violence and terrorist crimes. According to his lawyers, the arrest report states that he was arrested at a checkpoint in his hometown following an arrest warrant dating from September 2019 when he was really arrested at the airport.

For seven weeks between March and May, Patrick's pre-trial detention renewal hearings were continuously postponed due to the outbreak of COVID-19. His detention in Egypt's unsanitary prisons during the pandemic is particularly concerning as he suffers from asthma.

On 14 April 2021, Italy's Senate voted to grant Patrick Zaki the Italian citizenship. The motion followed a petition signed by 200,000 Italian citizens calling on the Italian government for his release and to grant him  the citizenship.

On 13 September 2021, Patrick was referred to the Mansoura II State Security Misdemeanors (Emergency) Court for his first trial hearing. The hearing was postponed to 28 September upon his lawyers' request, to consult the case files. The charges against him are "spreading false news inside and outside of the country", based on an article he had published in 2019, titled “Displacement, killing and constraintment: The toll of a week for Egypt’s Copts.”

On 7 December 2021, the judge ordered his release, and he was freed the next day. Patrick still faces the charge of spreading false news and his sentence hearing has been postponed since early 2022.

For regular updates on his case, follow the Patrick Libero - الحرية لباتريك چورچ Facebook page.

in prison for 1280 days

Mohamed el-Baqer is a human rights lawyer and director of Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms.

On 29 September 2019, Mohamed el-Baqer was arrested at the premises of the state security prosecution where he was attending an investigation session of the blogger and activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, who had been arrested earlier that morning. The supreme state security prosecution decided to detain Mr el-Baqer pending investigation on charges of joining an illegal group and spreading false news in supreme state security case 1356/2019. He has reportedly suffered ill-treatment during detention, such as being denied access to drinking water, sanitation and medical assistance.

His arrest was part of a wider campaign in which over 4,400 people were detained or disappeared following demonstrations calling for President al-Sisi to step down, and came in the context of shrinking space for human rights organisations and human rights defenders. The UN human rights office expressed its concerns over his arrest.

He was detained in the maximum-security wing 2 of Tora prison, known as Scorpion 2 prison due to the horrible detention conditions. For over three years, El-Baqer was denied exercise outside of his cell and access to books or newspapers. In October 2022, he was relocated to Bader 1 prison, which is an aisle of the new Bader prison complex, as Tora prison will be closed down.

On 19 February 2020, the Cairo Criminal Court ordered the release of both, Mohamed el Baqer and Alaa Abdel Fattah, but this was appealed by the Public Prosecution and the decision was revoked the following day.  

On 31 August 2020, the state security prosecution investigated him in a new case (855/2020) on charges of joining a terrorist group and taking part in a criminal agreement to commit terrorist crimes. The acts he was accused of allegedly took place while he was in pre-trial detention. 

On 23 November 2020, Mohamed el-Baqer was placed on the terrorism list for a period of five years following the request filed by the Public Prosecutor in case 1781/2019. This means that he will not be allowed to travel, assume any official position, or practice civil work. Additionally, his accounts and assets are frozen and he is not allowed to transfer or receive money. The appeal session of this decision took place on 18 November 2021, and was rejected.

On 27 November 2020, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) granted its 2020 Human Rights Award to Mohamed el-Baqer and another six Egyptian lawyers in pre-trial detention in a number of different cases, for their role in defending human rights.  

The European Parliament’s urgency resolution of 18 December 2020 on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Egypt called for the immediate release of El-Baqer and other human rights defenders and activists.  

Mohamed el-Baqer was referred to trial with Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed Oxygen in case 1228 of 2021 in front of the Emergency Court in October and November 2021, facing the charge of "spreading false news". The three human rights defenders' lawyers were not allowed to make copies of the case file, nor to present a defence. The Emergency Court maintained jurisdiction over the case despite the end of the state of emergency declared by President Al Sisi on 25 October 2021. On 20 December 2021, Mohamed El-Baqer was sentenced to four years in prison, and his pre-trial detention time (2 years and 2 months) will not be counted as serving time.

On 1 December 2021, 7 UN Special Rapporteurs and experts called on Egypt to halt the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society activists, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, and to immediately release three of those arbitrarily detained, including Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed El-Baqer and Mohamed Oxygen.

In June 2022, Mr el Baqer received the Ebru Timtik Award jointly with lawyer Haitham Mohamedeen. In October 2022, he received the Rule of Law award of the International Union of Lawyers in cooperation with Nexis Lexis.

Today, Mr el Baqer is allowed between 30 to 45-minute visits from only two members of his family once per month. Contrarily to his detention conditions in Tora prison, he is now allowed to walk for an hour outside of his cell in a courtyard shaded with metal mesh. He has a mattress, a pillow and a radio. He is still denied any winter clothes, newspapers, papers and pens. He is not allowed to have books most of the time. In his cell, the lights are turned constantly and his cell is monitored by security cameras 24/7.

For regular updates, follow the Free Baker Facebook page and @FreeBaker2 on Twitter. 

in prison for 1288 days

Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan (known as Mohamed Oxygen) is an Egyptian blogger and employee in a publishing house who, in addition to his blog, runs a Facebook page and a Youtube channel called Oxygen Egypt where he publishes reports on human rights issues and interviews with human rights activists such as Gamal Eid, opposition figures and public personalities.

He was arrested on 6 April 2018 and subjected to enforced disappearance for about a week, before being detained in pre-trial detention for over a year, on charges of publishing false news and joining an outlawed group in case 621/2018. Cairo criminal court accepted a release order with precautionary measures for him on 22 July 2019, and he was finally released on 31 July. He was allegedly held in solitary confinement and beaten in Tora prison, as well as prevented from receiving family visits.

On 21 September 2019, Mohamed Oxygen was transferred from the police station to the National Security Headquarters while carrying out the probation measures issued against him in state security case 621/2018. He was forcibly disappeared for 18 days before appearing before the prosecution where he was handed a 15-day detention order in case 1356/2019, on charges of engaging with a terrorist group to help achieve its aims, spreading false news and statements and misusing social media. His pre-trial detention is now regularly renewed. His arrest comes in the context of a widespread arrest campaign following the anti-government protests which began on 20 September.

On 3 November 2020, Giza Criminal Court replaced the pre-trial detention of blogger Mohamed Oxygen with precautionary measures in state security case 1356/2019, in which he is charged with cooperating with a terrorist group and disseminating false news.  However, on 10 November, days after being ordered released on probation, which hadn’t been implemented, the Supreme State Security Prosecution interrogated him in a new state security case (855/2020), accusing him of joining a terrorist group, and extending his pre-trial detention. This practice, known as “recycling” cases, is a common occurrence with human rights defenders and activists. 

Mohamed Oxygen was referred to trial with Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mohamed el-Baqer in case 1228 of 2021 in front of the Emergency Court in October and November 2021, facing the charge of "spreading false news". The three human rights defenders' lawyers were not allowed to make copies of the case file, nor to present a defence. The Emergency Court maintained jurisdiction over the case despite the end of the state of emergency declared by President Al Sisi on 25 October 2021. On 20 December, Mohamed Oxygen was sentenced to four years in prison.

On 1 December 2021, 7 UN Special Rapporteurs and experts called on Egypt to halt the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society activists, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, and to immediately release three of those arbitrarily detained, including Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed El-Baqer and Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan (Oxygen).

For the latest updates on his case, follow the hashtags #أكسجين_مصر or الحرية_لمحمد_أكسجين on Twitter.

in prison for 1857 days

Ezzat Ghoneim is a human rights lawyer and director of the Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms, a human rights organisation based in Cairo. He has defended political prisoners in both military and state security courts.

He was arrested in March 2018 following a BBC report on torture and accused of spreading false news and joining a banned group. Initially interrogated without a lawyer, he was then kept in Tora prison for six months. Expected to be released following a decision of the Giza criminal court in supreme state security case 441/2018, he went missing on 14 September 2018. Egyptian authorities did not provide any indication regarding his whereabouts. On 3 February 2019, he appeared before Cairo criminal court which sentenced him to 45 days in detention.

In April 2019, the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) issued a legal opinion on his situation, concluding that his detention contravened several articles in the Universal Declaration of Human rights and that the “appropriate remedy would be to release Mr. Ezzat immediately and accord him an enforceable right to compensation and other reparations, in accordance with international law.”

On 28 July 2019, the Egyptian authorities summoned Ezzat Ghoneim and questioned him in a second case over “membership in a banned group”.

The state security prosecution issued a release order for Ezzat Ghoneim in state security case 441/2018 on 7 May 2020, after over two years in pre-trial detention. However, his detention continues in the second case (no. 1118/2019).

Mr Ghoneim was referred to the Emergency State Security Court for his first trial hearing on 11 September, which was postponed to 11 October 2021.

For the latest developments in Ghoneim’s case check the Twitter hashtag #عزت_غنيم_فين and the informal Facebook campaign @freeghoneim.

in prison for 2029 days

Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy is a human rights lawyer and the co-founder and coordinator of the Association of the Families of the Disappeared. Mr Metwally represents families of people forcibly disappeared by the Egyptian state and was reported for providing legal advice to the family of Giulio Regeni, the Italian Cambridge university student who disappeared on 25 January 2016 and whose body was found bearing signs of extreme torture.

Mr Metwally was arrested on 10 September 2017 at Cairo International airport while travelling to Geneva to attend a session of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearance (WGEID). He was held in pre-trial detention for over two years in state security case 900/2017, on charges of establishing and leading an illegal group, spreading false news and communicating with foreign entities to support him in spreading his group’s ideas. During this time his health severely deteriorated due to medical neglect and he was denied visitation rights.

On 14 October 2019, the supreme state security prosecution decided to release him, however his release order was not implemented and on 5 November 2019 he was accused in a new case (1470/2019) on charges of joining a terrorist group and funding terrorism. This is a way to circumvent the two-year maximum on pre-trial detention prescribed by Egyptian law.

On 26 August 2020, he received a release order with precautionary measures in state security case 1470/2019, yet the release order was not implemented. On 6 September 2020, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF) reported that he was accused and investigated in a new case (786/2020) by the supreme state security prosecution on the charge of "taking command of a group" which was formed during his transfers to and from the prosecution for detention renewals.

On 27 November 2020, the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) granted its 2020 Human Rights Award to Ibrahim Metwally Hegazy and another six Egyptian lawyers who are currently in pre-trial detention in a number of different cases, for their role in defending human rights. 

The European Parliament’s urgency resolution of 18 December 2020 on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Egypt reiterated its call for his immediate release, amongst other human rights defenders and activists. 

In October 2021, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights warned that his health is seriously deteriorating: he has been suffering from prostate hyperplasia for over a year and has been denied access to medication. He requires urgent surgery to avoid serious complications that could be life-threatening and to relax the extreme pain he suffers in his solitary cell.

in prison for 3406 days

Ahmed Douma is a prominent political activist in Egypt and was one of the founders of both the Kefaya and April 6 Youth Movements. He was imprisoned 18 times under the regimes of Mubarak and the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces and twice under Morsi’s presidency. He has been in prison since 2013.

On 9 January 2019, Ahmed was sentenced to 15 years in prison and given a 6 million EGP fine by a Cairo criminal court as part of a case known as the Cabinet clashes, dating back to 2011, when military forces violently dispersed a demonstration in front of the Cabinet building and clashed with protesters. Ahmed was initially brought to court in May 2012, along with other defendants on charges of assaulting police, unlawful assembly and vandalising property. He was given a life sentence in February 2015. However, this sentence was overturned in October 2017 and his retrial began several months later, ending in January 2019. His 15-year sentence was upheld by the Court of Cassation on 4 July 2020. His health has deteriorated during detention.

Ahmed has also been given sentences in three other cases. In December 2013, he was sentenced to three years in prison and a fine on protest-related charges. This decision was upheld by the Court of Cassation in January 2015. He was given another three years in prison and a fine in December 2014 for insulting the judiciary. However, this sentence was overturned in May 2017 and only the fine was upheld. Finally, in January 2016, he was charged with assaulting a police office on the way to court and given 6 months in prison, subsequently reduced to one month.

On 7 March 2021, Ahmed Douma's family said that his health has significantly deteriorated and that he has developed chronic diseases of the heart as a direct result of harsh imprisonment conditions and lack of medical care. Ahmed has been imprisoned for 7 and a half years, including 6 and a half in solitary confinement. People used the #حرية_دومة_حقه to call Egyptian authorities to grant Ahmed parole after serving half of his sentence.

In January 2022, Ahmed was reportedly physically and verbally assaulted by prison officers and asked his family to submit a complaint to the Public Prosecutor. He started a hunger strike from 26 March 2022 (a week before Ramadan) until 5 April to protest his maltreatment from the Ministry of Interior preventing him from exercising and from receiving medicine. He was reportedly assaulted, and his family has not been able to visit him.

Towards the end of May 2022, some information leaked from the security authorities confirmed that Ahmed would not be included in the pardon list, because he, amongst others, is classified as a “troublemaker who does not comply with the prisons' regulations.”

In July 2022, Ahmed was allegedly victim of violations in prison, along with researcher Ahmed Samir Santawy. A leaked statement by Ahmed described the incident in which a prison officer tortured and insulted him. Douma argued with the officer for not providing medical care to Santawy, who showed covid symptoms and was suffocating after they sprayed his cell with disinfectant. Douma's request for an investigation was rejected.

Follow this Facebook page for regular updates on Ahmed Douma.

in prison for 1280 days

Alaa Abdel Fattah is an Egyptian activist, blogger and software engineer who has been at the forefront of the struggle for change in Egypt for many years. He has the distinction of having been arrested not only during Mubarak's rule but also by the different regimes that have ruled Egypt since the 2011 revolution.

Alaa previously served a five-year sentence for “organising a protest” against military trials for civilians in front of the Shura Council. This case, monitored and considered an unfair trial by EuroMed Rights, was challenged with an appeal in front of the Court of Cassation. The court delivered a final ruling in November 2017 upholding the five-year sentence. During Alaa's time in detention, his father, renowned human rights and constitutional lawyer, Ahmad Seif, died at 60 and his younger sister, Sanaa, was tried – also for protesting – and served 14 months of a two-year jail sentence.

Following a ruling of the Court of Cassation on 15 October 2018, Alaa was fined with LE 30,000 in a second case for tweets allegedly questioning Egypt’s judiciary independence. The case included other 24 prominent human rights defenders - including Amr Hamzawy, as well as opposition figures.

On 29 March 2019, he was finally released and returned home. However, he was given probation measures which entailed spending 12 hours every night for the next five years locked inside a police station from 6pm to 6am.

Six months later, on 29 September 2019, Alaa was arrested from Dokki police station where he was carrying out his 12-hour police monitoring. His family were informed that he had been taken to the state security prosecution where he was interrogated in the presence of his lawyers. One of his lawyers, Mohamed el-Baqer, was subsequently arrested. His arrest was part of a wider arrest campaign which saw over 4,400 people detained or disappeared since 20 September following demonstrations calling for President al-Sisi to step down. He has reportedly been subjected to torture in custody since his arrest, including repeated beating and being forced to remove his clothing. The UN human rights office has expressed its concerns over his arrest.

Alaa was on hunger strike for over a month beginning on 12 April 2020 to protest his detention and the ban on family visits to detainees since the start of the COVID-19 outbreak. He stopped the strike once he learnt that his pre-trial detention started being renewed by the judge once more, after several weeks of the renewal session being postponed. His sister, Sanaa, was arrested again on 23 June 2020 and released in December 2021 after a 1-year prison sentence.

On 23 November 2020, blogger Alaa Abdel Fattah and his lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer were placed on the terrorism list for a period of five years following the requests filed by the Public Prosecutor in case 1781/2019. 

The European Parliament’s urgency resolution of 18 December 2020 on the deteriorating situation of human rights in Egypt called for the immediate release of Mr Alaa Abdel Fattah and other human rights defenders and activists. 

On 1 March 2021, Alaa Abdel Fattah reported hearing sounds of prisoners being tortured in the Tora prison before the Public Prosecutor. However, the claim was not investigated and was later denied by Egyptian authorities.

Alaa Abdel Fattah was referred to trial with Mohamed el-Baqer and Mohamed Oxygen in case 1228 of 2021 in front of the Emergency Court in October and November 2021, facing the charge of "spreading false news". The three human rights defenders' lawyers were not allowed to make copies of the case file, nor to present a defence. The Emergency Court maintained jurisdiction over the case despite the end of the state of emergency declared by President Al Sisi on 25 October 2021. On 20 December 2021, Alaa was sentenced to five years in prison for sharing a tweet denouncing torture in Egyptian prisons.

On 1 December 2021, 7 UN Special Rapporteurs and experts called on Egypt to halt the misuse of counter-terrorism measures against civil society activists, lawyers, journalists and human rights defenders, and to immediately release three of those arbitrarily detained, including Alaa Abdel-Fattah, Mohamed El-Baqer and Mohamed Oxygen.

As from the first day of Ramadan, on 2 April 2022, Alaa started a hunger strike in protest of his detention conditions, and calling for accountability for the abuses he endured and the violations that he witnessed. 10 days later, his family announced that he had obtained the British citizenship in December 2021, stemming from his mother's birth in the United Kingdom. As he is a dual citizen, he and his family are requesting a British consular visit in prison, which has not been allowed. On 18 May, he was transferred to the new prison "Wadi el Natroun", in which he could seep on a mattress for the first time in years, but where the lights are turned on 24/7 for permanent monitoring of inmates. He has not been allowed to see his lawyers, but on 26 May he was finally allowed to receive books from his family. Though, the Egyptian authorities have not acknowledged his hunger strike, and are publicly denying it. The National Council for Human Rights visited Wadi el Natroun prison, but did not have access to Alaa's cell.

In the meantime, towards the end of May 2022, some information leaked from the security authorities confirmed that Alaa would not be included in the pardon list, because he, amongst others, is classified as a “troublemaker who does not comply with the prisons' regulations.” Additionally, the prosecution still refuses to acknowledge his British citizenship, due to "a lack of evidence", and therefore refuses to allow a British consular visit for Alaa, which is one of his demands.

His family is campaigning for the support of the British authorities to obtain his release. On 15 June 2022, his sister, Mona Seif, announced that she joined his hunger strike since her visit on 12 June. She ended it 25 days later. She has been circulating a petition for Alaa's release.

From 18 October until 6 November 2022, Sanaa and Mona Seif, Alaa’s sisters, held a sit in outside the British Foreign Office in London to try and secure his release. They met with Foreign Office officials and spoke to the Foreign Secretary and the Minister of State for the MENA. 

In a letter to his family, on 1 November 2022, Alaa declared that he would escalate his hunger strike by stopping any calorie intake, and that as from 6 November, with the start of COP27, he would stop drinking water too. This means that he is at risk of dying behind bars during COP27.

On 5 November 2022, in a letter to Sanaa Seif, the British PM affirmed the British government’s commitment to resolving Alaa’s case, and that they continue to press for an urgent consular visit. 

For updates on his situation, follow the Facebook page Free Alaa.

Mahmoud Abu Zeid, mostly known as Shawkan, is an Egyptian photojournalist who was arrested on 14 August 2013 while covering the Rabaa al-Adawiya Square protests. His case was part of the mass trial against 700 defendants who were arrested in connection with the August 2013 protests against the Egyptian military’s coup. The case is known as the “Rabaa dispersal” case.

When Shawkan was arrested, police officers did not explain the reason of his arrest nor did they present him with a warrant. He was taken to Cairo Police Station where he was detained and questioned by a prosecutor without the presence of his lawyer. He was thereafter taken to the Abu Zaabal Prison along with other detainees who were arrested in relation to the protest at Rabaa Square. Shawkan remained in detention and was transferred to the notorious Tora prison (also known as "the Scorpion") in December 2013, where he was detained in a 3 by 4 meter prison cell with 12 other individuals. He narrated the hardships of his conditions in the Tora prison in a letter to mark his 600 days in pre-trial detention, saying

"Tora prison is like a cemetery. It is a place where dreams come to die"

After spending a period of three years in extended pre-trial detention, Shawkan was eventually charged with nine offenses on 26 March 2016, including murder, putting him at risk of being sentenced to death. Other charges include joining a criminal gang, attempted murder, participating in a gathering with the purpose of intimidation and creating terror and exposing people’s life to danger, obstructing public utilities, overthrowing the regime through the use of force and violence, a show of strength and the threat of violence, resisting the authorities, obstructing the implementation of laws, surveillance, and disturbing public space.

Shawkan was only allowed to meet with his lawyers on an arbitrary basis and was not allowed to meet with his lawyers privately. On several occasions, he was denied access to his legal counsel and was not notified of several meetings and hearings that took place.

A major concern was Shawkan’s health as he was diagnosed with Hepatitis C shortly before his arrest. His family and lawyers filed several appeals to request his release on medical grounds. In the meantime, Shawkan was systematically denied any medical care. In a court session that took place on 27 December however, the judge presented a report by the Tora prison doctor stating that Shawkan was in perfect health.

On 3 March 2018, the prosecutor in the “Rabaa dispersal” case requested the death penalty (“death by hanging”) for him. No evidence was presented that could prove Shawkan’s responsibility for any of the offenses he has been charged with.

On 8 September 2018, a court sentenced him to five years in prison, which he had already served in pre-trial detention. The hearing was part of a mass trial against alleged protesters at the Rabaa sit-in of August 2013. As part of this case, 75 defendants have been sentenced to death. The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights said that the decision resulted from an unfair trial and that, if carried out, it would amount to “a gross and irreversible miscarriage of justice”.

On 4 March 2019, Shawkan was released and returned home after more than 5 years in detention. However, he is only partially free as he has to spend 12 hours every night for next five years in the police station.

For the latest updates, check out the Freedom For Shawkan Facebook Page here.

Amal Fathy is a woman human rights defender who won the Bruno Kreisky prize for human rights in May 2019, highlighting her courageous work defending human rights in Egypt. She is married to Mohamed Lotfy, who is the executive director of the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms.

Ms Fathy was arrested on 11 May 2018 after security forces raided her house, where she was present with her husband and their three-year-old child. Their phones were seized and their house searched, and then they were both taken to Maadi police station. While Mr Lotfy was released shortly after, Ms Fathy was referred to the prosecutor, who decided to hold her in pre-trial detention on the basis of alleged incitement to overthrow the ruling system, publishing lies and misusing social media, in relation to a Facebook video posted on 9 May 2018 on her Facebook account criticising the failure of the Egyptian government at protecting women against sexual harassment. This is how a first case (7991/2018) was brought against her.

Additionally, on 13 May 2018, she was charged with deliberately thwarting the presidential elections, disturbing public opinion, joining a banned group, using the internet to spread ideas calling for terrorist acts, and deliberately spreading false news that harmed public interest. These accusations are part of a second case (621/2018) that also includes online activist Mohamed Oxygen, among others.

On 19 June 2018, a judge ordered her release on bail of 10,000 Egyptian pounds, pending investigation in the first case (7991/2018). As the prosecution in the case appealed the decision, Ms Fathy had to appear before a criminal court on 21 June, which upheld the judge's decision. However she remained in detention in relation to the second case (621/2018).

On 29 September 2018, the Maadi misdemeanour court handed her a two-year prison sentence for spreading false news with intent to harm the Egyptian state and public indecency in case 7991/2018. The appeal session on 30 December 2018 upheld this decision. She will appeal before the Cassation Court. EuroMed Rights commissioned experts from Solicitors’ International Human Rights Group (SIHRG) to observe her trial and found many breaches of Ms Fathy’s fair trial rights, namely: her right to know the details of the charges against her, to prepare a defence, and to be presumed innocent, as well as her right to legal assistance and her right to call and examine witnesses.

Conditionally released following a court order of 18 December 2018 pending investigation in case 621/2018, she returned home on 27 December. On 14 March 2020, the prosecution ordered her release in case 621/2018, meaning her probation measures will be cancelled and she no longer has to report to the police station.

On 9 February 2021 the Cassation Court decided that the hearing of Ms Fathy's appeal against her two-year prison sentence in case 7991/2018 will take place on 27 April 2021.

On 11 February 2021 UN Special Rapporteur on human rights defenders called on Egypt’s Court of Cassation to dismiss charges against Amal Fathy.

On 11 January 2022, the Court decided to uphold the prison sentence against Mrs. Fathy, and reduced it to one year (6 months for each accusation).

Mostafa el Hassan is a lawyer and head of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center, a Cairo-based legal organisation promoting human rights and legally supporting victims of human rights violations in Egypt.

His assets and those of the organisation were frozen in September 2016 as he was accused of establishing an organisation in violation of the NGO law and illegally receiving foreign funding in case 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case. He was added to the list of defendants, together with other human rights activists, in April 2016, then he was summoned and questioned again in case 173/2011 in April 2017, and subsequently released on bail on the same day.

For more information on the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre, visit the Centre’s Facebook page.

Hisham Gaafar is the director of the Mada Foundation for Media Development and a member of the Journalists’ Syndicate.

He was arrested when security forces stormed the headquarters of Mada on 21 October 2015. He was interrogated by the state security prosecution and his lawyers were barred from attending the interrogation. He was held in pre-trial detention on charges of receiving illegal foreign funding and belonging to the Muslim Brotherhood.

He spent most of his time in al-Aqrab/Scorpion section, the maximum-security wing of the Tora prison compound. In May 2017, a court listed Gaafar on a terrorism list. In December 2018, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention concluded that his deprivation of liberty was arbitrary and requested his immediate release. He suffers many health problems which severely deteriorated during detention due to medical neglect and being kept in solitary confinement.

On 26 March 2019, Cairo Criminal Court ordered his release with precautionary measures, after more than three years in pre-trial detention (which greatly exceeds the maximum period of two years allowed by the law). He finally returned home late at night on 6 April 2019.

On 13 February 2019, his family submitted his application to run for the Journalists’ Syndicate's mid-term elections. However, the electoral commission of the syndicate subsequently announced that it had excluded him from the final applications after receiving an appeal from a candidate challenging his candidacy for not signing the application in person. Lawyers at the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information appealed this decision on 21 February.

For updates, follow the Facebook page Hesham Gaafar.

Khaled Ali is a human rights lawyer. He was head of the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), co-founded  both the  Front  for  Defending  Egypt's Protesters and the Hisham Mubarak Law Centre (HMLC) and founded the Aish we Horreiya (Bread and Freedom) party. He has worked on anti-corruption issues, workers’ rights and freedom of expression, association and assembly.

He declared his intention to run for the 2018 presidency in February 2017 and withdrew his candidacy in January 2018, mentioning external pressure as a primary reason for his decision. In May 2017, charges were brought against him for allegedly making an obscene gesture in public while celebrating the Supreme Administrative Court’s decision of January 2016 rejecting an agreement to transfer two Red Sea islands to Saudi Arabia. He was subsequently sentenced to three months in prison.

Mr Ali’s appeal was dismissed and a three-month jail sentence was upheld on 19 September 2018, suspended for three years. EuroMed Rights and the Bar Human Rights Committee of England and Wales monitored the trial and published a  trial observation report highlighting an inappropriate proximity between the judges and the prosecution.

On 6 October 2018 a travel ban was issued against him without any formal notification and he was added to a watch list reportedly due to his suspected involvement in case 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case. Mr Ali gave legal assistance to several defendants within the same case.

To know more about Khaled Ali and his work, follow his Twitter account here.

Dr. Magdy Abdel Hamid has worked as a consultant on political development policies, civil society and human rights policies and training programs. He is a consultant to UN agencies, IDEA, DRI, EPD and EU. He is also the chairman of the Egyptian Association for Community Participation Enhancement (EACPE).

On 2 October 2017, while going to Amman to attend the Policy Forum on Development, organised under the EU Euro-Mediterranean Partnership, he was prevented from travelling outside Egypt.

Dr Suzanne Fayyad, co-founder of El Nadeem Center for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture, was banned from travel in the morning of 18 October 2017 by Cairo airport authorities. She was informed the ban was ordered by the investigative magistrate as she was boarding a flight to Tunisia to attend a conference on the rehabilitation of child torture victims. However, she was not informed about the reasons for the order.

On 24 May 2018, Suzanne Fayyad, together with her colleague Dr Magda Adly, was summoned to appear in front of the investigating judge as part of the case 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case against NGOs. As El Nadeem highlighted in a statement, this decision came only a few weeks after the centre received the Amnesty International Germany’s Human Rights Award.

In February 2017, El Nadeem, the most prominent organisation providing support to victims of torture and violence in Cairo, was shut down following an administrative order decreed one year before, upon instruction of the Health Ministry.

Azza Soliman is a prominent lawyer and the founder of the Center for Women's Legal Assistance (CEWLA). She is currently serving on its board of trustees. CEWLA is a feminist organisation that campaigns to promote gender equality, focusing in particular on legislative reform and awareness-raising.

In November 2016, Azza Soliman’s personal bank account and that of her law firm, Lawyers for Justice and Peace (LPJ), were frozen by instruction of the Central Bank. Shortly after that, when trying to fly to Jordan to participate in a training on human rights, she was notified that she was banned from travelling.

In December 2016, she was arrested from her home and escorted to the police station by security forces. She was later transferred to New Cairo court where she was interrogated by the investigative judge in case no 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case. Released on bail the same evening, she is nevertheless currently under investigation, charged with tax evasion, receiving illegal foreign funding "with the aim of harming national security”, and founding an illegal entity.

In July 2017, two of her colleagues at the LJP, Seham Ali and Abeer Ali, were summoned for questioning by the investigative judge, accused of the same charges. Abeer could not attend the interrogation and Seham, who was reportedly asked about Azza’s activism, was released on bail.

Azza has appealed both the travel ban and the assets freeze decision, finding out that the general prosecutor’s list (the only legal list regarding travel bans) did not include her name and that, in consequence, the travel ban is illegal.  After a lengthy judicial procedure, the appeal on the travel ban was rejected. The case she filed against the bank that blocked her account is still ongoing.

Azza Soliman was witness to the murder of activist Shaimaa ElSabbagh, who was killed while peacefully protesting on 24 January 2015. Two months later, the Qasr El Nile Prosecution Office in Cairo changed Ms Soliman’s status from being a witness to the killing of Shaimaa ElSabbagh to a defendant, accused of protesting illegally. She was acquitted of the charges, which the prosecutor subsequently appealed.

On 11 December 2020, human rights lawyer Azza Soliman received the 2020 Franco-German Prize for Human Rights and the Rule of Law for her role in defending gender equality and human rights. 

On 30 August 2021, the investigative judge ruled that there was not enough evidence against four human rights groups in the NGO foreign funding-related Case 173/2011 to pursue a criminal trial and ordered the years long travel bans and asset freezes on a number of prominent activists, including Azza Soliman, lifted. However, it has not yet entered into force. Ms Azza Soliman’s appealed to lift her name from the travel ban and asset freeze lists, but on 13 February 2022, the judge decided it lacked jurisdiction. He instead decided to reopen the asset freeze case for another hearing until Mrs. Soliman provides evidence proving that the assets that she admitted owning and are under freeze are actually hers. On 22 February 2022, her name was finally removed from the travel ban list.

Malek Adly is a prominent human rights lawyer and the director of the Lawyers Network at the Egyptian Centre for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR), which seeks to promote and mobilise social movements to spread the culture of human rights.

He is one the founders of the Front for Defending Egypt's Protesters, a group comprising of 34 human rights organisations and several lawyers, which documents illegal practices carried out by state police forces against peaceful protesters.

Upon his arrest in Cairo’s Maadi district on 5 May 2016, Malek Adly was charged with attempting to overthrow the regime and accused of "inciting protests" rejecting the deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia over two Red Sea islands. He was transferred to Tora prison, where he was reportedly mistreated and beaten in detention, and denied family and lawyer visitation rights.

On 28 August 2016, he was released from prison, after having spent nearly 4 months in pre-trial detention in solitary confinement. The charges against him were only dropped in August 2018.

Additionally, in August 2017, Malek Adly was summoned for interrogation by the investigative judge in case 173/2011, known as the Foreign Funding case, accused of conducting activities with the purpose of "harming national security" as an employee at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center in 2010.

He is subject to a travel ban.

Mozn Hassan is a woman human rights defender and the founder and executive director of Nazra for Feminist Studies (www.nazra.org), a feminist organisation working in Egypt and the MENA region on gender equality and combatting violence against women.

She was summoned to appear before a judge investigating what is known as the “foreign funding case” after her participation at the UN Commission on the Status of Women (CSW) in March 2016.

In June 2016, airport authorities in Cairo prevented her from travelling to Beirut, where she was supposed to participate in the executive committee meeting of the Women Human Rights Defenders Regional Coalition for the Middle East and North Africa, as a regional expert.  This travel ban is a clear reprisal measure designed to silence her voice and to stop her from participating in international advocacy. In January 2017, Ms Hassan's assets were frozen as part of criminal case No. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding” case.

She is among the 2016 laureates for the Right Livelihood Award, but due to the ban, she has not been able to travel to receive the prize. In 2013, Ms Hassan was awarded the inaugural Charlotte Bunch Human Rights Defender prize at the Global Fund for Women’s 25th Anniversary. Ms Hassan is also a Board Member with the Global Fund for Women and the Association for Women's Rights in Development (AWID), as well as a member of the Regional Experts' Committee of the Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). She has published several articles on the issue of sexual violence against women in the public space and women's political participation.

On 16 March 2018, Nazra for Feminist Studies announced the closing of its headquarters. The decision came 14 months after Ms Hassan's personal assets were frozen as well as the assets of the Nazra company and association. Although the headquarters will be closed, Nazra announced that it will continue to carry out its activities in support of women’s rights.

In July 2021, Ms Hassan was summoned for questioning. On 29 July, the investigative judge mandated by the Cairo Court of Appeal assigned a committee to re-conduct a tax audit.

On 2 February 2022, Ms Hassan's name was removed from the travel ban list and her assets are no longer frozen. Nazra for Feminist Studies was also removed from Case 173.

Gamal Eid is a prominent human rights defender and executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANHRI). Mr Eid founded ANHRI in 2004 with the aim of establishing an organisation to defend human rights, and freedom of expression in particular, in Egypt and the Arab world through research and legal support to victims. He graduated from Ain Shams University College of Law and served as a defence attorney in several human rights cases during the Mubarak era.

On 4 February 2016, Mr Eid was prevented from boarding a flight to Athens by Cairo Airport officials.  He had no prior knowledge, no notification or summons for investigation regarding the travel ban and did not receive any information about the judicial body responsible for it.

On 10 October 2019, Gamal Eid was physically assaulted in the street. The attacker tried to steal his bag and repeatedly beat him with the butt of his gun. The attack was reportedly committed by security personnel. Approximately two weeks later, on 31 October, Mr Eid was borrowing the car of one of his colleagues and he found that it had been smashed. Mr Eid's own car had been stolen on 30 September. He reported these incidents to the police, however the prosecution concluded the investigation abruptly, without hearing his testimony or those of witnesses. On 13 November, the prosecution decided to reopen the investigation.

On 29 December 2019, a number of armed men, who seem to have been security forces, beat up Gamal Eid near his house. They threw paint at him, and brandished weapons at bystanders and neighbours who attempted to stop the attack and defend Mr Eid.

On 30 November 2020, the administrative court indefinitely adjourned appeal no 7720/72 he submitted to challenge the travel ban issued against him. 

In August 2021, Mr Eid was questioned for the first time and he remains under investigation  in case no 173 of 2011. 

Mohamed Zaree has been the Egypt Office Director of the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS) since 2014. He leads CIHRS’ research, human rights education, media outreach and national advocacy activities in Egypt. He also coordinates the Forum of Independent Egyptian Human Rights NGOs, created in 2007.

Since 2012, Mohammed Zaree has represented CIHRS in several official committees charged with drafting a new NGO law for Egypt. He has advocated for freedom of association with different Egyptian ministries under the presidencies of the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces, Mohammad Morsi and Adly Mansour.

On 26 May 2016, Mohamed Zaree was stopped at Cairo International Airport before boarding a flight for a business trip. The officers informed him that a travel ban had been imposed on him, based on an order by the investigative judge of the case no. 173/2011, known as the “foreign funding case.”

Mohamed Zaree is a leading protagonist of Egypt’s human rights movement and remains the representative of CIHRS in Egypt. However, his personal safety and freedom are at risk due to the prosecution of the foreign funding case, which targets many human rights defenders in Egypt. As part of the repressive pre-trial measures, CIHRS’ assets were frozen on 17 September 2016.

In October 2017, Mohammed Zaree received the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders. Zaree could not attend the ceremony as he remains banned from travelling. His wife and two daughters travelled to Geneva to receive the award on his behalf.

Negad El Borai is a prominent human rights lawyer and a well-known figure in Egypt’s civil society. He chairs the law firm United Group for Law, which provides legal support to civil society organisations and victims of human rights violations. The firm also engages in monitoring and the documentation of human rights violations pertaining to freedom of expression and opinion, and conducts workshops to raise awareness on these issues.

In March 2015, the High Judicial Council filed a complaint against him for drafting a law for the prevention of torture in line with Egypt’s international commitments, organising a workshop for open discussion with other experts and advocating for its promulgation before the Egyptian authorities. Since then, he has been summoned on five occasions and arrested for “implementing human rights activities without a license”, “deliberately spreading false information with the purpose of harming public order or public interest” and “receiving illegal funds”.

In July 2017, an administrative court banned United Group from conducting human rights activities; endorsing the Social Affairs Ministry’s decision to prohibit the law firm’s recognition as a civil society group for purportedly violating the Law on associations and non-governmental organizations (Law 84/2002).

Negad El Borai was informed of the travel ban, based on the controversial foreign funding case, in January 2017 as he attempted to attend a conference in Jordan.

On 30 August 2021, the judge decided to drop the charges against a number of NGOs and individuals, including Mr. El Borai, after he ruled that there was no sufficient evidence. The travel ban against him was finally lifted on 8 February 2022.

Ahmed Ragheb is a lawyer and founder of the National Community for Human Rights and Law (NCHRL). He is also one of the founders of the Hisham Mubarak Law Center. He works to promote and protect human rights through NCHRL and in his capacity as a lawyer.

On 15 November 2016, Mr Ragheb was told by passport control officials at Cairo International Airport that he was banned from travelling based on a judicial order issued against him in May 2016 by an investigative judge. He was travelling to Morocco to participate in the 22nd session of the Conference of the Parties (COP 22) of the United Nations Climate Change Conference. The order was issued without prior notification and without known charges against him.

In July 2017, Mr Ragheb was interrogated and released on bail in relation to case 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case. He has been charged with receiving funds intended to harm national interest and establishing an organisation without registration in relation to his role at the Hisham Mubarak Law Center.

Abdel Hafez Tayel is the founder of the Egyptian Center for the Right to Education, an organisation promoting human rights education in Egypt.

On 17 September 2016, Cairo Criminal Court confirmed the order to freeze his personal assets based on an accusation of illegally receiving foreign funding. If found guilty, he can face up to 25 years imprisonment.

In November 2016, Abdel Hafez Tayel was heading to Kuwait to attend an international conference on education when airport authorities detained him for several hours before ordering him to head home. He was banned from travelling.

In June 2017, Abdel Hafez Tayel was summoned for interrogation, formally charged and interrogated by the investigative judge in the "foreign funding case" against NGOs. Tayel is accused of receiving foreign funding with the aim of harming national security, establishing the independent Teachers' Union in violation of the law, tax evasion and “moral fraud”.

Tayel has also been questioned about an article he wrote calling ex-President Mubarak a criminal.

He was summoned for questioning in September 2021.

Aida Seif Al-Dawla is one of the founders of El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. She was issued with a travel ban on 23 November 2016 on the basis of her involvement in an unspecified court case. She was heading to Tunisia to attend a conference for organisations working on the rehabilitation of victims of violence in North Africa at the time.

She had not received any prior notice of the ban from the public prosecutor, but an officer at the airport, where she was first stopped, suggested her lawyer gave the wrong address.

On 8 October 2019, she was informed that she had been officially summoned by the prosecution on 7 October, yet not told the reason why. Subsequently, she discovered that a citizen had accused her of “damaging the country’s reputation.”

She was summoned to the prosecution on 16 March 2020 in case 1075/2020, yet the summons was postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak. It is not yet clear on what grounds she was summoned.

The El-Nadeem Center’s rehabilitation clinic was threatened with closure in February 2016 following a dispute with the Health Ministry over the legality of the team's advocacy work against torture. The closure was executed a year later in 2017 and is currently being contested by the center in court.

Nasser Amin is the director of the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession in Egypt, as well as the Chairman of the Complaints Committee of the quasi-official National Council for Human Rights. He has worked on cases of enforced disappearances and torture, which he has described as a systematic pattern.

On 14 July 2016, he was prevented from travelling to Beirut for a conference by security officers at Cairo International airport based on an order of the Public Prosecutor. The reason behind the travel ban was not stated by the authorities.

Hoda Abd El-Wahab is a lawyer and Executive Director of the Arab Centre for the Independence of the Judiciary and the Legal Profession, a regional organisation established in Cairo in March 1997.

On 20 June 2016, she was travelling to Oslo to participate in an international conference on the death penalty when she was informed by officials at Cairo International Airport that she had received a judicial order imposing a travel ban on her. Hoda Abd El-Wahab believes that this is related to case 173/2011, known as the foreign funding case against NGOs in Egypt, which was reopened in 2016. She was not formally notified of this order and has yet to be informed of any further action to be taken.

Hossam Al-Din Ali is the president of the Egyptian Democratic Institute, which works on human rights, political participation and democracy.

On 27 February 2016, he was stopped at Cairo International Airport and barred from travelling to the United States. He was on his way to attend an international conference on ways to fight corruption. He discovered his travel ban at Cairo International Airport, as he had not been notified of it beforehand.

Mr Al-Din Ali was investigated in relation to case no.173/2011, known as the foreign funding case on 20 May 2018. He was accused of receiving foreign funding, harming national security and managing the branch of an international organisation without a licence, before being released on bail of 20,000 EGP.

Hossam Bahgat is an Egyptian human rights defender and investigative journalist. He is the founder of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights and a journalist for Mada Masr.

He was arrested from 8 to 10 November 2015, summoned by military intelligence for ‘publishing false news that harmed national interests and disseminating information that disturbed public peace’. He had written a series of articles concerning the army and military trials.

In January 2016, he was again critical of the Egyptian regime, when he argued that the ‘level of repression now [is] significantly higher than it was under the Mubarak regime’.

In February 2016, he was prevented from travelling to Jordan in order to participate in a United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia conference on justice in the Arab world. On 17 September 2016, Cairo Criminal Court confirmed the order to freeze his personal assets.

On 29 July 2021, Mr Bahgat was investigated in case no. 173 of 2011. The case file includes memos accusing him of establishing and managing an entity with the objective of "working to change the mental image of citizens and to incite them against national institutions, especially the police, the judiciary, and the armed forces". He is also accused of insulting the elections authority.

On 29 November 2021,Mr Bahgat was sentenced to a fine of 10,000 Egyptian Pounds for "insulting the elections authority".

Omar Hazek is a human rights defender, a renowned poet from Alexandria and an honorary member of the Austrian chapter of PEN International. He has been an outspoken critic of the use of torture by the Egyptian police and corruption in public institutions.

In 2013 he was sentenced to two years in prison for allegedly protesting without authorisation. He was released in February 2015 following a Presidential pardon.

On 14 January 2016, Hazek was on his way to The Hague to accept the 2016 Oxfam Novib/PEN Award for Freedom of Expression. The award is given annually to honour writers who have fought courageously for freedom of expression in the face of great adversity and despite the risk to their own lives. When he arrived at Cairo airport he was detained, questioned and later released after several hours of questioning, along with being given a travel ban.

In February 2017, Egyptian security services detained Hazek for several hours in an unknown location. He was released on the same day.