Egyptian lawyer charged for posting on Egypt’s prisons and Gaza
A prominent Egyptian human rights lawyer and activist has been charged by authorities with spreading false news in her social media posts about Gaza and prison conditions in Egypt, according to The New Arb plus agencies on August 19th.
Mahienour El-Massry is well known across Egypt for advocating on behalf of political prisoners, the numbers of which have increased dramatically since Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi came to power in 2014.
She also advocates for labour movements and displaced communities, including Syrian and Palestinian refugees residing in Egypt.
El-Massry has been arrested multiple times before- in 2019 she was arrested outside the supreme state security prosecutions offices and charged in multiple cases related to terrorism. She spent 2 years in pre-trial detention and was released in 2021.
On August 18th, El-Massry was summoned to the offices of state security prosecutors and questioned.
She was released on a bail of around $1,000.
One of her lawyers revealed that the case she was being charged with was related to alleged social media posts addressing the situation in Gaza, including Egypt’s response to Israel’s war, and the conditions inside Egyptian prisons.
On April 23rd it was reported that 13 people since the beginning of 2025 had died inside Egyptian prisons due to medical negligence, ill treatment and suicide.
El-Massry’s arrest follows her appearance last week in a protest at Egypt’s Press Syndicate where demonstrators condemned leaders for inaction on the situation in Gaza, and called for the Rafah crossing between Egypt and Gaza to be opened and for a ceasefire agreement.
This case is the fourth state security case opened against El-Massry since her arrest in 2019. The human rights group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, has described this as a “systemic targeting of human rights defenders.”
The group also revealed that the summons delivered to El-Massry’s family revealed no details on the accusations being made against her.
As well as activists, Egyptian authorities have been cracking down on content creators, also triggering concerns from human rights groups.
On August 5th the seemingly arbitrary arrest of well known influencer “Suzy el Ordoneya” was reported, with human rights organizations regarding this as the “systemic targeting of girls and young women.”
The New Arab plus agencies/Maghrebi
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