On Monday, the Second Terrorism Circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court renewed the detention of labor leader Shady Mohamed and five others for 45 days in Case No. 1644 of 2024, known as the “Palestine solidarity banner” case, according to lawyer Islam Salama from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
Salama told Al Manassa that, with this renewal, Shady and the five young men have officially exceeded the maximum period set by law for pretrial detention, after spending over two years in custody over their activity in support of the Palestinian cause during Israel’s genocide of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
Shady Mohamed was detained on April 29, 2024, near his home, just a day after the five other men were taken into custody from their homes in Alexandria. All of them were presented to the Supreme State Security Prosecution by the end of that month. At the time, the investigations focused on their display of a banner over a bridge in Alexandria expressing solidarity with Palestine.
Detailing the detention renewal session, Salama said Shady Mohamed and Youssef Yasser Farouk were unable to attend via video conference because the court could not connect with Borg El Arab Prison, where they are being held.
The court, however, successfully connected with their four co-defendants in the same case, who are being held at 10th of Ramadan 6 Prison, allowing them to attend the session.
Salama added that the defense requested the defendants’ release due to them having exceeded the legal limit for pretrial detention, and because there was no evidence for the charges against them that would justify their continued detention. The defense also argued that hanging the banner did not disrupt public order, and that their act was merely an expression of solidarity with Gaza.
Shady and his five codefendants remain in custody, even as the Supreme State Security Prosecution began, on Oct. 6, 2026, releasing defendants in similar cases.
This was followed by the State Security Prosecution’s decision to release three activists from the “Egyptian Sumud Flotilla to Break the Siege on Gaza” on bail of 1,000 Egyptian pounds (about $21 at the time) in Case No. 7478 of 2025, two weeks after their arrest following a solidarity demonstration with Gaza in front of the campaign’s headquarters in Dokki.
On January 29, 2025, Shady Mohamed had gone on a full hunger strike to protest his transfer from 10th of Ramadan Prison (6) to Borg El Arab Prison and the confiscation of his personal belongings. He ended the strike after more than four weeks, following an improvement in his treatment due to a widespread solidarity campaign in his support, according to statements his wife made to Al Manassa at the time.
Shady Mohamed is a union leader in the Independent Union of Workers at the Linen Group furniture and textiles company in the Amreya Free Zone. He was arbitrarily dismissed in 2019 for participating in labor protests demanding better wages, and he is a founding member of the Permanent Conference of Alexandria Workers.
He was previously arrested on Oct. 3, 2022, inside the bus of the textile company where he worked at the time, and was brought before Dekheila Prosecution in Alexandria, which ordered his pretrial detention pending Case No. 10233 of 2022 on charges of “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news.” He was held in Borg El Arab Prison before the West Alexandria attorney general ordered his release on Oct. 24, 2022.
