Ongoing calls for release of Egyptian human rights lawyer and 2025 IBA honouree Hoda Abdel-Moneim

With Egyptian human rights lawyer Hoda Abdel-Moneim set to face a further trial on terrorism-related charges on 16 December, fifteen Egyptian and international legal and human rights organisations have signed a letter calling for her immediate release, adding to an ongoing chorus from the International Bar Association (IBA), UN Special Rapporteurs, and others criticising Abdel-Moneim’s ‘unlawful detention’.

On 6 November, Abdel-Moneim was named the winner of the 2025 IBA Award for Outstanding Contribution by a Legal Practitioner to Human Rights, for “her remarkable dedication to defending fundamental freedoms and advancing justice, particularly in the areas of women’s rights, children’s rights and the fight against enforced disappearances”. She was unable to attend the ceremony at the IBA Conference in Toronto as she has been imprisoned in Egypt since November 2018.

The IBA judging panel praised Hoda Abdel-Moneim for exemplifying the highest standards of courage, integrity, and dedication in the field of human rights law.

“Hoda has defended some of the most vulnerable in Egypt over a distinguished four decades. Her work has challenged systemic injustice and state repression in Egypt, where speaking out for human rights can lead to grave consequences. Hoda has helped shape human rights discourse through her roles in the Egyptian Bar Association, the National Council for Human Rights, and international forums.”

By video recording, Abdel-Moneim’s daughter Gehad Badawy accepted on her behalf, noting she hoped the IBA Award would be a step towards her mother’s freedom, and that defending human rights should be rewarded, not punished.

“I thank you all for your support and I ask everyone who hears me today to raise my mother’s case and the cases of all the human rights defenders who face the same fate and risk,” said Badawy. You can write about them on social media, send letters to decision makers and show that you reject these practices against them. May we soon celebrate my mother’s freedom, and the freedom of all political prisoners.”

In October, Badawy had submitted an appeal to the President of Egypt for her mother’s immediate release, due to the 66-year-old’s critical health condition, which included kidney failure, multiple heart attacks, and a suspected stroke.

Abdel-Moneim was first arrested during a pre-dawn raid without any warrant by security forces on 1 November 2018. Previously, she had served on Egypt’s National Council for Human Rights, was a spokesperson for the Women’s Revolutionary Coalition of Egypt, and represented Egypt at international conferences in the areas of both women’s and children’s rights. Following her arrest, Abdel-Moneim disappeared for 21 days, before subsequently being charged with joining a terrorist organisation and inciting harm to Egypt’s economy. Later, In a widely criticised verdict, the Emergency State Security Court issued a five-year prison sentence.

Although she completed her sentence on 31 October 2023, Abdel-Moneim remains in custody. Egyptian authorities re-arrested her under a new case on identical charges, a practice known as ‘recycling of charges’, which contravenes international law and Egypt’s own legal principles prohibiting double jeopardy. In December 2024, she was rotated again, and referred to trial for the third time on the same charges.

Organisations including the International Commission of Jurists have described the various terrorism charges issued multiple times against Abdel-Moneim as “spurious” and her original and ongoing detention as wrongful, arbitrary, and unlawful.

Following the IBA Award announcement, Margaret Satterthwaite, the UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, on 19 November offered her “warm congratulations” to Abdel-Moneim as a “fully deserving honoree", while noting she still remained behind bars. “Lawyers’ associations around the world continue to show steadfast solidarity to Hoda Abdel-Moneim and others like her to advance the basic rights of lawyers facing pressure or reprisals,” said Satterthwaite.

On 20 November, the Geneva-based Committee for Justice (CFJ) reiterated its full solidarity with, “who remains in detention despite completing her original sentence in October 2023 and now faces a third trial on identical charges”, and called for the immediate and unconditional release of Abdel-Moneim, urgent medical care, an end to the targeting of human rights defenders in Egypt, and an independent investigation into all violations committed against the human rights lawyer.

The violations committed by Egyptian authorities against Abdel-Moneim over the past seven years, said the CFJ, include enforced disappearance, physical and psychological torture, arbitrary deprivation of liberty, poor detention conditions, medical neglect, “Rotation” of detention (recycling of charges), arbitrary pretrial detention, trial before exceptional courts, solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and arbitrary inclusion on terrorist lists.

On 21 November, the US-based Human Rights Research Center praised the IBA’s decision to recognise Hoda Abdel-Moneim for her outstanding contribution to human rights in the field of law, while stating it hoped the IBA Award “would raise awareness of Abel-Moneim’s current imprisonment in Cairo and encourage the international community to campaign for her long-overdue release”.

Following the IBA Award, fifteen other local and global organisations - including the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms, Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, International Federation for Human Rights, and World Organisation Against Torture - have also signed a letter urging President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi to consider Gehad Badawy’s request for a full presidential pardon for her mother, in light of her deteriorating health and the fact she has already served the sentence for the same charges for which she is now being prosecuted again in violation of Egyptian law.