Fifteen Egyptian and international human rights organizations have urged the Egyptian authorities to immediately release lawyer and former National Council for Human Rights member Hoda Abdelmoneim, citing her rapidly worsening health and the imminent start of her third terrorism trial on Dec. 16.
The signatories' appeal, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), casts a stark light on Egypt’s prolonged detention of a woman who has spent more than seven years behind bars despite repeated legal and medical warnings.
In a joint statement issued Sunday, the groups said the 66-year-old lawyer has endured “systematic violations,” including the repeated recycling of cases to prolong her detention indefinitely.
They appealed directly to President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to consider the presidential pardon request submitted by her daughter, Gehad Khaled Badawy, on Oct. 12, warning that Abdelmoneim’s life now hangs in the balance.
The statement noted that Hoda completed a five-year sentence on Oct. 31, 2023, only to be placed in two new cases—No. 730 of 2020 and No. 800 of 2019—repeating the same allegations of joining and financing a “terrorist organization.” The move effectively ensured her continued imprisonment despite having already served her full term.
The statement described the “severe deterioration” in Hoda’s health. She has suffered two heart attacks, chronic blood clots and the complete failure of her left kidney while being denied adequate medical care. The organizations said her ongoing prosecution is part of a broader campaign targeting human rights defenders across Egypt.
Hoda was arrested from her home in 2018 and held in pretrial detention for more than four years—in clear violation of Egyptian law—before receiving a non-appealable sentence in 2018, known publicly as the “Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms case.” She was sentenced to five years for joining a “terrorist organization” but acquitted of financing it.
Despite a Nov. 26, 2023 order from the Public Prosecution directing her transfer to a prison hospital, the administration of 10th of Ramadan Prison refused to comply. The refusal underscored long-standing concerns about the obstruction of medical care for political detainees.
The statement signatories included Egyptian NGOs such as the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, the Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, El-Nadeem Center, the Egyptian Human Rights Forum, among others.
