{"id":23012,"date":"2025-11-17T00:46:55","date_gmt":"2025-11-16T22:46:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/rpegy.org\/?post_type=editions&p=23012"},"modified":"2026-01-24T02:46:03","modified_gmt":"2026-01-24T00:46:03","slug":"joint-statement-the-third-trial-of-hoda-abdelmonem","status":"publish","type":"editions","link":"https:\/\/rpegy.org\/en\/editions\/joint-statement-the-third-trial-of-hoda-abdelmonem\/","title":{"rendered":"Joint Statement: The Third Trial of Hoda Abdelmonem"},"content":{"rendered":"

The undersigned organizations call for the\u00a0immediate release\u00a0of lawyer at the Court of Cassation and former member of Egypt\u2019s National Council for Human Rights,\u00a0Hoda Abdelmonem (66 years old), who has been subjected to relentless reprisals and judicial harassment for more than seven years as a result of her work documenting and exposing human rights violations.<\/p>\n

Her\u00a0third trial\u00a0on terrorism-related charges in Case No.\u00a0800\/2019\u00a0(Supreme State Security Prosecution) is scheduled to begin on\u00a016 December\u00a0before the Second Terrorism Circuit at the Badr Security Complex. The undersigned organizations stress that her continued detention is unjustifiable, particularly given her\u00a0critical and life-threatening health condition, as she suffers from chronic illnesses that require urgent and sustained medical care.<\/p>\n

This marks the third time that Abdelmonem is being prosecuted for \u201cjoining\u201d or \u201cfinancing\u201d a terrorist organization. She was first arrested on\u00a01 November 2018\u00a0at her home and interrogated in Case\u00a01552\/2018, known in the media as the \u201cEgyptian\u00a0<\/a>Coordination<\/a>\u00a0for Rights and Freedoms<\/a>\u00a0case\u201d. She remained in unlawful pretrial detention for over\u00a0three years\u00a0before a State Security Emergency Court handed down an unappealable\u00a0five-year sentence\u00a0for \u201cmembership in a terrorist group\u201d, while acquitting her of terrorism-financing charges.<\/p>\n

On\u00a031 October 2023, Abdelmonem was due to be released after completing her full sentence\u2014before the verdict had even been ratified by the President, which would have rendered it final. Instead of initiating her release procedures, the authorities\u00a0rotated<\/a>\u00a0her into a new case and brought her before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Case\u00a0730\/2020\u00a0on the very same charges. Her pretrial detention was repeatedly renewed for more than a year before she was\u00a0rotated again: on\u00a018 November 2024, prosecutors interrogated her in Case\u00a0800\/2019, a case opened while she was already in custody. Less than a month later, she was\u00a0referred<\/a>\u00a0to trial on chages of \u201cjoining and financing a terrorist group\u201d and \u201ccriminal agreement to commit a terrorist offence\u201d, without being confronted with any evidence or witnesses.<\/p>\n

Over the past seven years, Abdelmonem\u2019s health has severely deteriorated amid the authorities\u2019 failure to provide the medical care her condition requires. In August, she suffered\u00a0two consecutive\u00a0heart attacks<\/a>\u00a0within a single week. She also suffers from chronic deep vein and pulmonary thrombosis, dangerously high blood pressure, severe joint pain, and kidney failure that has left her\u00a0left kidney non-functional.<\/p>\n

Abdelmonem has received several international awards in recognition of her distinguished human rights work, including the\u00a02020 CCBE Human Rights Award<\/a>\u00a0and, most recently, the\u00a0IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Legal Practitioner to Human Rights.<\/p>\n

The undersigned organizations call on President\u00a0Abdel Fattah al-Sisi\u00a0to consider the request submitted by her daughter,\u00a0Gehad Khaled Badawy, on\u00a012 October 2025, seeking a full presidential pardon for her mother in light of her deteriorating health and the fact that Abdelmonem has already served the sentence for the same charges for which she is now being prosecuted again in violation of Egyptian law.<\/p>\n

Signatory Organizations<\/h3>\n