Egyptian security forces arrested two lawyers and a political activist at dawn on Monday after raiding their homes simultaneously, following a Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience event they had organized highlighting the plight of prisoners of conscience, a fellow committee member told Al Manassa.
Ahmed Qenawy, a member of the Committee for the Defense of Prisoners of Conscience, told Al Manassa that rights lawyer Mohamed Abu El-Diyar, lawyer Wafaa El-Massry, and political activist Hanan Tantawy were detained in early morning raids on May 25, describing the operation as “an unjustified act of intimidation.”
The three had helped organize a May 12 exhibition titled “Prison is not where they belong,” hosted by the Bread and Freedom Party, which drew prisoners’ families, rights defenders, politicians, and citizens. Authorities had previously summoned relatives of prisoners who attended the event for questioning before escalating their measures to target the organizers, Qenawy said.
As of Monday morning, none of the three had officially appeared before prosecutors. “Lawyers have been at the State Security Prosecution headquarters since early morning waiting for them to be brought in, but they have not officially appeared so far,” Qenawy said, calling the situation “miserable and disturbing.”
A scene from the event May 12, 2026Rights lawyer Nabeh Elganadi told Al Manassa that Abu El-Diyar was taken from his home, while El-Massry was arrested at a North Coast property and Tantawy was detained at her residence.
El-Massry’s niece, human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Massry, said a large contingent of plainclothes and uniformed security forces arrived at El-Massry’s house at 7:30 am, where she was staying with her nephew, his wife, and their three young daughters.
“She was arrested in front of her granddaughters, and security forces confiscated the phones of the rest of the family and prevented them from using them, leaving them with the compound’s private security for three hours,” Mahienour wrote on Facebook. “That is why we learned of her arrest late.”
Mahienour described the operation as an act of terror. “Terrorizing children and deploying security forces to take away a well-known Court of Cassation lawyer in her mid-60s, known for her deep patriotism and unwavering stances, is terrorism against all voices. Intimidating children, that is real terrorism,” she wrote.
The event, which Wafaa El-Massry moderated, featured photographs and videos recounting the “human stories, hobbies, and dreams” of detainees, according to a committee statement.
Speakers included MP Freddy El-Bayadi, Mohamed Anwar Esmat El-Sadat, and representatives from multiple parties including the Hope Current, the Constitution Party, the Karama Party, the Egyptian Communist Party, the Socialist Popular Alliance Party, the Egyptian Socialist Party, and the Revolutionary Socialists.
At the event’s close, the committee called for the release of all prisoners of conscience, an end to open-ended pretrial detention, and legal reforms to prevent detention from becoming “a punishment in itself.” It also demanded compensation for detainees and that “Egypt may become without prisoners of conscience.”
Qenawy demanded the immediate disclosure of the three activists' place of detention and access for their defense team.
