In a new appeal addressed to the President of the Republic, Gehad Khaled, daughter of detained lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim, a former member of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, called on President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi to intervene and release her mother through a medical pardon or inclusion in a presidential amnesty, citing her severely deteriorating health in detention.
In a letter obtained by Zawia3, Gehad wrote that she was making a humanitarian plea to the president to consider her mother’s case, describing her as “in extremely critical health conditions.” She explained that her 66-year-old mother suffers from chronic and life-threatening illnesses, including recurrent heart attacks and severe kidney failure that endangers her life.
Gehad added that her mother completed her five-year prison sentence on October 31, 2023, which had been handed down on charges of joining the Muslim Brotherhood. “Nevertheless,” she wrote, “her detention has continued under two new cases with the same accusations — a violation of justice and an added torment for our family.”
She noted that her mother suffered two consecutive heart attacks on August 23 and 30, 2025, along with blood clots in the lungs and deep veins, and severely deteriorating kidney function approaching total failure. Gehad warned that her continued detention “poses an immediate threat to her life and could, God forbid, lead to irreversible consequences.”
Gehad further stated that her mother has not seen her grandchildren for many years, and that her only wish “is to spend what remains of her life surrounded by her children and grandchildren, away from the suffering and pain of imprisonment.” She appealed to President El-Sisi to order her release “through an immediate medical pardon or presidential amnesty.”
End of Sentence, Yet Continued Detention
Hoda Abdel Moneim, a lawyer and human rights defender who formerly served as a member of Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, was arrested by security forces in November 2018 over her human rights activities. Her name was listed in State Security Case No. 1552 of 2018, known in the media as the “Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms Case.” Since that date, she remained in pre-trial detention for over four years, until March 5, 2023, when the Emergency State Security Court sentenced her to five years in prison on charges that rights organizations have described as fabricated.
Despite the expiration of her sentence on October 31, 2023, Abdel Moneim was not released. Instead, she was re-charged with the same accusations under Case No. 730 of 2020. Then, on November 18, 2024, her family was again taken by surprise when she was referred to the Supreme State Security Prosecution in connection with a third case — Case No. 800 of 2019 — carrying identical charges to the previous ones.
Her defense team at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) told Zawia3 that this represents a clear violation of the legal principle of double jeopardy, which prohibits trying a person twice for the same offense.
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Deterioration of Her Health Condition
In mid-September 2025, 23 human rights organizations called for the immediate release of human rights lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim due to the severe deterioration of her health inside prison. Abdel Moneim had suffered two consecutive heart attacks on August 23 and 30, 2025, yet her family was not informed of her condition until a visit on September 7, 2025.
According to her defense team, speaking to Zawia3, Abdel Moneim — detained since November 2018 — suffers from narrowing of the cerebral arteries, which confined her to bed for 12 days and left her temporarily unable to move. She also suffers from a chronic deep vein thrombosis accompanied by multiple pulmonary embolisms, requiring precise and regular medical supervision to prevent recurrence, a condition that poses an imminent threat to her life.
In addition, she faces severe hypertension, acute inflammation of the joints and spine, and is in need of urgent knee surgery. Her left kidney has completely stopped functioning, while her right kidney suffers from reflux, leading to a dangerous decline in kidney performance. She had previously suffered angina while in detention, and her overall condition continues to worsen under prison conditions, according to her defense team at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR).
The defense team further explained that on September 9, 2025, Abdel Moneim’s family submitted a new formal request to the authorities for her medical release, following a series of previous petitions that received no response. The family had also sent a complaint to the National Council for Human Rights on August 13, 2025, requesting urgent medical intervention and immediate release — but, once again, without result.
Speaking to Zawia3, Gehad Khaled, daughter of lawyer and human rights defender Hoda Abdel Moneim, said:
“Our last visit to my mother was on September 7, during which we learned that she had suffered two heart attacks on August 23 and 30. We immediately filed complaints to the Public Prosecutor during court sessions and contacted the National Council for Human Rights to renew our requests for her medical release.”
Gehad added that her mother currently receives a limited level of medical care at the medical unit inside Al-Ashir Min Ramadan Prison, but that “the available care is inadequate for her serious condition.” She stressed that her mother needs advanced medical treatment suitable for her deteriorating health.
She concluded that the family’s latest step is a petition for release addressed directly to the President of the Republic, scheduled for submission on Sunday, adding:
“We have exhausted every possible avenue and contacted every authority we could. This petition is our last resort — we can only hope it finds mercy and leads to her release.”
Human Rights Calls for Her Immediate Release
The defense team from the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) told Zawia3 that in 2024, Abdel Moneim’s husband and lawyer, Khaled Badawy, filed petition No. 85546/2024 to Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawki, detailing the severe deterioration of his wife and client’s health and requesting her release pending trial, given the absence of any justification for her continued detention and in consideration of her critical medical condition. Despite the clarity of the petition and the inclusion of detailed medical reports and official documents, neither the family nor the defense has received any response from the Public Prosecution to date.
The defense team stated:
“Human rights lawyer Hoda Abdel Moneim is currently being tried twice on the same charges before Egyptian courts, in two separate cases still under review, even though these accusations were already adjudicated in a third case that ended with a final verdict. This constitutes a clear violation of a fundamental legal principle prohibiting the prosecution of a person twice for the same offense.”
On December 11, 2024, the Supreme State Security Prosecution referred Abdel Moneim to trial for the second time in connection with Case No. 800 of 2019 (Supreme State Security) — the same case in which she had already been interrogated during her detention. This referral came less than a month after she was questioned again in the same case, without any date yet set for trial sessions.
A few days later, on December 29, 2024, the same prosecution again referred her to trial in connection with Case No. 730 of 2020, whose first hearing was held today. As a result, Abdel Moneim now faces two simultaneous trials on identical charges, even though she has already served her original sentence, which ended in October 2023, according to her defense team.
The lawyers explained that the only current legal path toward her release lies through the court sessions held inside the Badr Prison Complex, where the court has the authority to order her release pending trial. They emphasized that there is no longer any legal justification for her continued detention, particularly given her critical health condition and the absence of any security risk in releasing her.
In March 2023, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights published a detailed report titled “Human Rights Defenders Before the Emergency Courts,” which provided an in-depth analysis of the violations faced by defendants in the case known as the “Egyptian Coordination for Rights and Freedoms”, including Hoda Abdel Moneim, throughout their arrest, interrogation, and trial before exceptional courts.
According to the EIPR, Abdel Moneim has spent the past five years under extremely harsh detention conditions, deprived for most of that time of family contact and visits, in clear violation of the Egyptian Prisons Regulation Law.
The organization added that Abdel Moneim — a former member of the National Council for Human Rights — has repeatedly complained of persistent medical neglect in prison. She suffers from reflux in her right kidney and complete failure of her left kidney, and she has been denied essential heart tests and scans for over two years, despite repeated requests from her family and lawyers.
