The undersigned organizations condemn the continued inclusion of human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer on the…

Democracy has remained largely absent in Egypt since the 2024 adoption of the EU-Egypt Partnership, even though the confirmed €5 billion in EU macro-financial assistance is officially predicated on Egypt taking “concrete and credible steps towards respecting effective democratic mechanisms – including a multi-party parliamentary system – and the rule of law and guarantees respect for human rights.”

Marei’s case does not exist in isolation. It reflects a broader pattern of a harsh and ongoing crackdown on freedom of expression in Egypt, taking place within an increasingly closed civic space, alongside mounting restrictions on artistic freedom. This includes the systematic targeting of artists, and cultural figures through vague and recurring charges. For over a decade, the authorities have relied on such accusations to pursue critics, journalists, artists, and creatives, resulting in years of imprisonment, either through prolonged pretrial detention or through trials that fall short of international fair trial standards.

CFJ and EFHR reaffirmed their support for the adoption of an African Declaration on the promotion and protection of human and peoples’ rights defenders, while stressing that the final text must preserve its strongest guarantees, remove language that may enable restrictions or reprisals, and respond effectively to the lived realities of defenders across the continent.

In addition to Yasser Abu Al‑Ela, those prosecuted in the same case include cartoonist Ashraf Omar. Other journalists currently detained include Safa Al‑Korbeigi, Karim Ibrahim, Mostafa Al‑Khatib, Ahmed Sabeeh, Badr Mohamed Badr, Mahmoud Saad Diab, Hamdy Mokhtar, Tawfik Ghanem, Mohamed Saeed Fahmy, Mohamed Abu Al‑Moaty, Mostafa Saad, Abdullah Samir Mubarak, Medhat Ramadan, Ahmed Abu Zeid Al‑Tantawi, Ramadan Goweda, Khaled Mamdouh, and Hussein Karim.

Ahmed Douma has already spent over a decade in prison on politicized charges. In custody, he has been held in prolonged solitary confinement, denied adequate medical care, and subjected to treatment that Amnesty International described as torture. His detention was found to be arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention.

Douma is unable to lead a normal life under these circumstances. In addition to being banned from travel, he struggles to secure permanent employment due to administrative obstruction preventing him from obtaining official documents.

Ahmed Hassan, who was 18 years old at the time of his disappearance, vanished on April 1, 2019, while on his way to attend a graphic design training course in Cairo, near his residence in the Al-Moqattam district.

The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in Southwest Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA) and the undersigned organizations call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately release woman human rights defender and lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim to save her life, and to cease arbitrary measures against her.