Egyptian lawyer Haitham Mohamadein set to be released from prison
Egypt
Lawyers for Lawyers welcomes the news that, on 15 September 2022, Egyptian lawyer Haitham Mohamadein has been set to be released from prison after a pre-trial detention that lasted 16 months.
Mr. Mohamadein is a labor lawyer with an affiliation with the El Nadim Centre for the Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence. In his role he provided victims of human rights violations pro bono legal assistance.
Mr. Mohamadein was again arrested on 12 May 2019 after which he went missing until the 16th of May. He was then accused by the Supreme State Security Prosecution (SSSP) of “collaborating with a terrorist organization”. During this detention his health deteriorated. Even though a court ruled on 8 March 2021 that Mr. Mohamadein had to be released on probation, the SSSP on 10 March 2021 re-accused him of the same charges, but in a new case. The court’s release order was ignored.
His case has been a perfect example of what is called “Rotation”. Rotation refers to the practice of bringing an entirely new cases against a defendant who was ordered to be released, reached their maximum detention limit for a case or has served their sentence. Based on this new case, the detention period is brought back down to zero, effectively making it possible to keep the defendant in pretrial detention indefinitely. A highly concerning practice.
Lawyers for Lawyers has sent a letter to the Egyptian authorities to urge the release of Mr. Mohamadein on April 9th 2021.