Press Release
The “Committee for Justice” (CFJ) has monitored that Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution has begun an investigation with human rights lawyer and former member of the National Council for Human Rights, Huda Abd El-Moneim, regarding a new case (her third), registered as No. 800 of 2019 under the Supreme State Security Prosecution.
– Two previous cases:
Previously, the same prosecuting authority had interrogated Abd El-Moneim just one day before the end of her five-year prison sentence connected to Case No. 1552 of 2018 under the Supreme State Security Prosecution. Instead of releasing her, they placed her in pretrial detention for another case, No. 730 of 2020, under the same jurisdiction. This tactic, known as “renewed detention,” is designed to prevent her release.
Throughout her five-year detention, Abd El-Moneim has suffered from significant health problems, experiencing several health crises that endangered her life. Despite this, the authorities have consistently neglected her condition, and now she faces a new case.
– Rejection and calls for her release:
CFJ condemns the actions of Egyptian authorities against Huda Abd El-Moneim, especially the practice of repeatedly re-detaining her in connection with new cases to prolong her imprisonment. This is a common tactic used by Egyptian authorities against human rights defenders to prevent them from carrying out their lawful and peaceful work.
CFJ urgently calls for Abd El-Moneim’s immediate release, stressing the need to consider her critically deteriorated health due to the poor detention conditions she endured.
Furthermore, CFJ urges international and UN mechanisms to press the Egyptian authorities to halt the misuse of pretrial detention as a punitive tool against human rights defenders.
