Lawyers for Lawyers, the FreeHoda Campaign and other human rights and lawyers’ organisations, express grave concern for the ongoing arbitrary detention of lawyer and human rights defender Hoda Abdelmonem. For over six years Hoda has been detained on fabricated charges, with her sentence being renewed one year ago based on the same charges, some of which she had already been acquitted of.
Ms. Abdelmonem has been active in human rights defense and legal practice since 1983 and is both a former member of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights and legal advisor to the Islamic World Council for Preaching and Relief under the leadership of the late Grand Imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Mohammed Sayed Tantawy.
On November 1, 2018 Mrs. Abdelmonem was arrested and enforcibly disappeared for 21 days, during which she was denied contact with both her lawyers and family. She was sentenced to five years in prison based on the fabricated charges of joining a terrorist group and financing terrorism. On October 31, 2023, when she was supposed to be released, Mrs. Abdelmonem was charged again in a new case, based on charges she had previously been acquitted of. The continued detention of Mrs. Abdelmonem for over a year after the end of her sentence is in violation of Egyption law, which prohibits prosecuting an individual twice for the same charges. It also contravenes Principle 16 (a) and (c) of the UN Basic Principles, stating that lawyers should be able to perform all of their professional function without hindrance, harassment or improper interference, and that they shall not suffer prosecution for any action taken in accordance with recognized professional duties.
Mrs. Abdelmonem’s continued detention, as well as the detention of Alaa Abdel Fattah is part of a broader trend of action taken against human rights defenders by Egypt authorities. The Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders expressed her concern in a 2021 statement, stating that anti-terrorism and national security laws are being misused to criminalise the work of human rights defenders in the country.
We are particularly concerned about Mrs. Abdelmonem’s deteriorating health, and the lack of medical assistance during her detention. The prison administration has ignored defense requests to access her medical reports, despite her suffering from numerious serious health conditions. We denounce the re-fabrication of charges against her in a new case, and call for her immediate release due to her deteriorating health in detention. We also call for the cessation of the additional penalties imposed in her first case, including her listing on terrorism watch lists and subjecting her to police surveillance for an additional five years.
Signatories:
- Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- El Nadim Center against violence and torture
- Lawyers for Lawyers
- MENA Rights Group
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
- International Service for Human Rights (ISHR)
- Refugees Platform in Egypt (RPE)
- EuroMed Rights
- Association for Freedom of Though and Expression AFTE
- Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)
- REDWORD for Human Rights & Freedom of Expression
- Egyption Commission for Rights and Freedoms
- HuMENA for Human Rights and Civic Engagement
- EgyptWide for Human Rights
- Center for Egyptian Women’s Legal Assistance
- Musawa-The Palestinian Centre for the independence of judiciary and legal profession
- Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies (CIHRS)
- Arab Centre for Independence of Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP)
- The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in South West Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
- People in Need
Read the full statement here.
