Deep concern over increasing repression of lawyer and human rights defender Hoda Abdelmonem
By extending Hoda Abdelmonem’s detention past her sentence Egypt is ramping up its repression of lawyers and human rights defenders, with MEPs calling for their release.
Hoda Abdelmonem has been arbitrarily jailed since 2018. Although her five-year prison sentence was due to expire on 31 October 2023, the Egyptian regime has decided to keep her in ‘provisional detention’, and it has just emerged that she has been sent back to court for a new case involving the very same charges. In doing so, Egypt is violating the legal principle that prohibits double jeopardy.
Mounir Satouri (The Greens/EFA, FR), Chair of the European Parliament’s Subcommittee on Human Rights (DROI), said: “I condemn the recycling of charges after the completion of a sentence, a move which constitutes a flagrant violation of the rule of law. This practice is used to keep Hoda Abdelmonem in prison despite the alarming state of her health, just as it is used to keep other human rights defenders like Alaa Abdel Fattah in prison indefinitely. The European Parliament has repeatedly called for the release of these prisoners.
“In line with European Parliament resolutions voted in 2020 and in 2022, I firmly condemn the continued arbitrary and pre-trial detention of tens of thousands of prisoners of conscience in Egypt, many of whom are detained in inhumane conditions without access to a fair trial or basic rights. The conditions in which these prisoners are detained lead to serious health problems which threaten the lives of those imprisoned, as in the case of Hoda Abdelmonem.
“I call for the immediate release of Hoda Abdelmonem and her fellow lawyers who have been arbitrarily detained, as well as other journalists and human rights defenders.”
For further information contact M. Mounir Satouri’s office: 0032 228 45 521 - mounir.satouri@europarl.europa.eu