As of today, Hoda Abdelmoniem, the prominent lawyer and human rights defender, has spent seven full years behind bars since her arrest on 1 November 2018. The Free Hoda Abdelmoniem Campaign and the undersigned human rights organizations express their deep concern and strong condemnation of her continued arbitrary detention, despite her suffering from chronic and life-threatening illnesses, and call for her immediate and unconditional release.
Hoda Abdelmoniem was arrested on 1 November 2018 and subjected to enforced disappearance for 21 days before appearing before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in Fifth Settlement on 21 November, where she was charged with “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news”, based on investigations related to her human rights work.
Her arbitrary pretrial detention continued for more than five years, until an Emergency State Security Court sentenced her to five years in prison on 5 March 2023, which she fully served by 31 October 2023. Yet she was not released; instead, she was rotated into two new cases on the same charges, in blatant violation of the principles of fair trial, which prohibit trying a person twice for the same accusations.
Over the past years, her health has seriously deteriorated, as she suffers from:
- Chronic deep vein and pulmonary thrombosis;
- Severe hypertension and kidney failure, with her left kidney completely nonfunctional;
- Recurring heart attacks;
- Severe pain in her joints to the point of requiring knee replacement surgery.
In August 2025, Hoda suffered two consecutive heart attacks within one week, confirming that her continued detention under these conditions poses an imminent threat to her life.
Many international institutions have expressed growing concern over her case. The United Nations Special Procedures — including the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention; the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; the Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; the Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers; and the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism — made a formal communication on her case on 17 February 2022. They expressed grave concern about her continued arbitrary detention and the use of counter-terrorism legislation to criminalize her legitimate human rights work, and called for her immediate release and access to necessary medical care.
The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights reiterated its concern in a January 2025 statement regarding the misuse of Egypt’s counter-terrorism law to suppress independent voices and human rights defenders.
The Belgian federal Parliament profiled Hoda as a symbolic case in the introductory statement to a 2023 resolution on human rights in Egypt and MPs repeatedly called for her release. Similarly, the European Parliament’s Human Rights Subcommittee, in its statement of 16 December 2024, expressed deep concern over the increasing repression of lawyer and human rights defender Hoda Abdelmoniem, calling for her immediate and unconditional release and ensuring her physical and psychological safety. The Parliament had already called for her release in its 2020 and 2022 plenary resolutions on Egypt.
The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe awarded Hoda and other Egyptian lawyers in arbitrary detention its 2020 human rights award and has repeatedly urged the Egyptian authorities to release her.
These repeated official statements confirm that Hoda Abdelmoniem’s case is not an isolated incident, but part of a wider pattern of targeting human rights defenders in Egypt. Urgent action by the Egyptian authorities is required to end her suffering and ensure compliance with Egypt’s international human rights obligations. On 12 October 2025, her daughter Jihad Khaled Badawy submitted an appeal to the President of the Republic, requesting an urgent pardon for her mother due to her deteriorating health.
We, the Free Hoda Abdelmoniem Campaign and the undersigned organizations, call on the Egyptian authorities to:
- Immediately and unconditionally release Hoda Abdelmoniem, respecting her right to life and liberty.
- Enable the National Council for Human Rights and relevant UN mechanisms to follow up on her condition and ensure she receives appropriate medical care.
Hoda Abdelmonem is a lawyer and former member of the National Council for Human Rights. She is the recipient of the Human Rights Award from the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE) 2020 and is well known for her defense of victims of enforced disappearance and arbitrary detention in Egypt. Her case stands as a symbol of the suffering faced by human rights defenders who are targeted for their peaceful and legitimate work. The campaign calls on all individuals and organizations to show solidarity with her, support its demands and pressure the Egyptian authorities to ensure her immediate release and to end the use of arbitrary detention and exceptional courts to silence independent voices in Egypt.
Signatories:
- Amnesty International
- Association for Freedom of Thought and Expression for Human Rights (AFTE)
- Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe (CCBE)
- Digital Democracy Now
- Egyptian Front for Human Rights
- Egyptian Human Rights Forum (EHRF)
- Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR)
- El Nadim Center – Egypt
- EuroMed Rights Network
- FreeHoda Campaign
- Lawyers for Lawyers
- MENA Rights Group
- Middle East Democracy Center (MEDC)
- Refugees Platform In Egypt (RPE)
- The Arab Center for the Independence of the Judiciary and Legal Profession (ACIJLP)
- The Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms (ECRF)
- The Regional Coalition for Women Human Rights Defenders in South West Asia and North Africa (WHRDMENA)
