An Egyptian court has renewed the detention of Al Manassa cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar, among others, for 45 days in their absence, his lawyer Nabeh El-Ganadi said.
According to the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the renewals were issued by a consultation panel of the Badr Criminal Court without allowing Omar or other defendants to attend the hearing, despite their lawyers’ requests that they appear via the prison’s video link system.
The judge renewed the detentions of Omar, Ahmed Oraby, and Sherif El-Rouby “without regard for their right to attend the hearing, their right to be heard, or their right to consult their lawyers”, according to EIPR's statement. The group added that both Oraby and El-Rouby had already exceeded the legal maximum for pretrial detention.
Omar’s extended detention has drawn sharp criticism from press freedom and human rights organizations. Last month, 23 such groups demanded his immediate release, describing the anniversary of his arrest as “a sad day” that marked the loss of a year of his life. They called for an end to what they described as a baseless prosecution.
On July 21, participants at a cultural seminar organized by the Journalists Syndicate also called for Omar’s release and for the freeing of all those detained in publishing and expression cases. The seminar convened to discuss Omar’s Arabic translation of British thinker John Molyneux’s book “Dialectics of Art” became a broad show of solidarity as the first anniversary of his detention approached.
Omar was first arrested at his home on July 22, 2024. Plain-clothed security forces stormed his residence, bound and blindfolded him, and took him to an undisclosed location.
He was held in enforced disappearance for two days before being brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution, which ordered an initial 15-day detention following a six-hour interrogation.
He has remained in pretrial detention since. Prosecutors have charged him with spreading false news, misusing social media and joining an organization established in violation of the law, his lawyer said.
Human rights lawyer Khaled Ali has previously explained to Al Manassa that court consultation panels may legally renew a defendant’s detention for 45 days at a time, provided the total does not exceed 18 months from the date of arrest.
Ali argued at the time that Omar should be released, saying that “The continuation of his detention in this manner without questioning him suggests that pretrial detention has become an end in itself, not a measure necessary for the investigation.”
Similarly, Ahmed Oraby was arrested on Nov. 6, 2022, after posting a series of comments on Facebook about the economy. Oraby was subjected to torture and physical assault during pretrial detention and was transferred to Badr Prison 3 after protesting ill-treatment, according to an EIPR press release.
Sherif El-Rouby, prominent political activist and human rights defender, has faced repeated prosecutions since 2018, when the State Security Prosecution questioned him in Case No. 621 of 2018 on charges of spreading false news and joining a banned organization. In Dec. 2020 he was investigated again in Case No. 1111 of 2020 on the same charges without being confronted with evidence or credible witnesses, EIPR states.
In 2022, El-Rouby was released under a presidential pardon, but three months later he was again questioned by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on new accusations of joining a banned group and disseminating false news and statements. This followed a televised interview in which he described the hardships faced by former political prisoners.
