Letter on the arrest and detention of Osama Bayoumi
Egypt
In a letter, Lawyers for Lawyers expresses serious concern over the arbitrary arrest, subsequent disappearance and ongoing detention of Egyptian human rights lawyer Osama Bayoumi.
Mr. Bayoumi is a member of the Lawyers Syndicate and working on prominent human rights cases. According to the information we received, Mr. Bayoumi was arrested on 29 January 2022 at his home in Cairo by a group of security officers who reportedly failed to present an arrest warrant or a warrant to search his home. The work laptop and mobile phone of Mr. Bayoumi, which contain confidential information about his clients, were confiscated by the authorities. We have been informed that at the time of his arrest, Mr. Bayoumi was working on a number of sensitive cases involving political prisoners and journalists.
After his arrest, Mr. Bayoumi was disappeared in an undisclosed location for five days and was not presented before any investigative body until 3 February 2022, where he appeared before the Supreme State Security Persecution (SSSP) in Cairo. The SSSP ordered the remand of Mr. Bayoumi for a period of fifteen days in Tora Maximum Security Prison. According to our information, Mr. Bayoumi was detained in relation to case no. 640/2018 and charged with ‘joining a terrorist group’ and ‘spreading false news’.
Read the full letter here.