A coalition of 80 international human rights groups is urgently calling on Egyptian authorities to release Mohamed Adel, a high-profile political activist and former spokesperson of the April 6 Youth Movement. Adel has been arbitrarily jailed for five years solely for exercising his fundamental rights to free expression, association, and peaceful assembly.
The organizations express grave concerns over Adel's cruel and inhumane prison conditions as well as the authorities' denial of adequate medical care for his ailments, including peripheral neuropathy, joint inflammation, and undiagnosed chest pains. In March 2024, Egyptian security officials threatened to place Adel in solitary confinement or transfer him to a notoriously harsh facility in retaliation for his requests for improved conditions.
Since May 2022, prison officials have blocked Adel's access to medical treatment and adequate food, exacerbating his health issues. They have also unlawfully denied him access to books, violating Egypt's own prison regulations.
Adel spent five years in abusive pretrial detention from 2018 to 2023. In September 2023, a court convicted him of spreading "false news" on social media and sentenced him to four years in prison, simply for peacefully expressing his views. His lawyers state he will complete this term in September 2027, as it includes his lengthy pretrial detention on similar spurious charges.
The activist also faces other open criminal probes related to his human rights activism, potentially enabling authorities to extend his imprisonment after 2027. Egyptian authorities have relentlessly targeted Adel for over a decade, including a previous three-year sentence for participating in unauthorized protests in 2013 under a draconian law criminalizing peaceful demonstrations.
