The Committee for Justice expresses its grave concern over the continued detention of lawyer and human rights defender Hoda Abdelmonem (67 years old), former member of the National Council for Human Rights, amid the serious deterioration of her health condition and her retrial in a third case based on the same charges brought against her throughout more than seven years of detention.
Last Wednesday, 11 February 2026 Hoda Abdelmonem appeared before the Second Terrorism Circuit of the Badr Criminal Court, presided over by Judge Wagdy Abdel Moneim, in the first hearing of her trial in Case No. 800 of 2019. The referral order was read out and the present defendants’ denial of the charges was recorded without questioning them or allowing them to appear outside the glass cage. The court permitted only Hoda Abdelmonem and Aisha Al-Shater to step outside the cage.
During the hearing, Hoda informed the court that she had not left her bed for fifteen days due to her illness and inability to move. She requested exemption from attending future hearings, asking that her husband and her lawyer, Khaled Badawy, represent her, given the hardship of transferring her from her place of detention at the Tenth of Ramadan Rehabilitation and Correctional Center (4) in Sharqia Governorate to the court premises at the Badr Security Complex. The court adjourned the case to 10 May for review.
Serious Health Deterioration
Hoda Abdelmonem suffers from life-threatening medical conditions, including chronic deep vein thrombosis, pulmonary embolisms, high blood pressure, and acute joint inflammation. During her detention, she has also suffered a heart attack, complete failure of her left kidney, and reflux in her right kidney. In 2024, her husband submitted a formal petition to the Public Prosecutor requesting her release due to the absence of legal grounds for continued pretrial detention and the severity of her health condition; the request received no response. Furthermore, the administration of Tenth of Ramadan Prison (4) previously failed to implement a Public Prosecution decision dated 26 November 2023 ordering her transfer to the prison hospital.
The Committee for Justice recalls that Hoda Abdelmonem was arrested from her home in 2018 and remained in pretrial detention for more than four years before being sentenced in Case No. 1552 of 2018 (State Security Emergency) to five years’ imprisonment on charges of joining a terrorist group, while being acquitted of financing charges. After serving her full sentence, she was re-detained through the practice commonly known as “rotation” in Case No. 730 of 2020, and later added again to Case No. 800 of 2019, which was referred to trial in December 2024. She now faces trial in two cases based on the same accusations, in violation of the principle of non bis in idem, which prohibits trying a person twice for the same act.
The Committee for Justice stresses that her continued detention, despite her advanced age and critical health condition, and the denial of adequate medical care raise serious concerns regarding her physical integrity, her right to life and health, and her fair trial guarantees. Her retrial after having served her sentence also raises fundamental legal concerns relating to the finality of judgments and legal certainty.
Recommendations of UN Special Procedures
In January 2025, several United Nations Special Procedures called for the release of activists, politicians, and lawyers detained in politically motivated cases and urged an end to the practice of “rotation” into new cases. The Special Rapporteur expressed particular concern over the use of this practice to detain other human rights defenders, including lawyer Hoda Abdelmonem and Aisha Khairat, who were re-charged in new cases after completing their sentences. The experts noted that Hoda Abdelmonem, who should have been released upon completion of her five-year sentence on 1 November 2023, was instead re-detained on new charges similar to those for which she had already served her sentence, in violation of the prohibition against double punishment.
The UN Special Procedures recalled Egypt’s obligations under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, ratified in 1982, particularly articles 6, 7, 9, 10, 14, 16, 19 and 22, read in conjunction with article 2(3), which guarantee the right to life; the prohibition of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment; the right to liberty and security of person; humane treatment of detainees; fair trial guarantees; freedom of expression; freedom of association; and the right to an effective remedy. These rights are likewise enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
They also recalled Egypt’s obligations under article 12 of the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, which guarantees the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, including the obligation not to deny or restrict prisoners’ access to health care and to ensure continuity of treatment, in accordance with the UN Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners (the Mandela Rules).
The Special Procedures further relied on several Human Rights Council resolutions affirming the right of individuals, individually or in association with others, to communicate freely and without fear of reprisals with the United Nations and its human rights mechanisms. These resolutions call on States to refrain from acts of intimidation or reprisals, ensure accountability through prompt, impartial and independent investigations, and provide effective remedies to victims. The UN experts also stressed that counter-terrorism and national security measures must comply with international human rights law and must not be used to restrict or undermine the legitimate work of human rights defenders.
The Committee for Justice calls for the immediate release of Hoda Abdelmonem, or at a minimum, her transfer outside prison to receive urgent and specialized medical care, and for full respect of her legal and human rights in line with the Egyptian Constitution and Egypt’s international obligations regarding the protection of older persons and human rights defenders.