Egyptian prosecutors have charged human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Massry with spreading false news, accusing her of inflammatory social media posts. El-Massry, 39, appeared before state security prosecutors on Monday after being summoned at dawn, questioned for hours, and released on bail of 50,000 Egyptian pounds.
Her defence lawyer, Khaled Ali, said the accusations stem from posts criticising Egypt’s response to the Israel-Hamas conflict, Gaza’s humanitarian crisis, and dire prison conditions. Last week, El-Massry joined protests at Egypt’s Press Syndicate, where demonstrators urged Arab leaders to act on Gaza and demanded the Rafah crossing be opened.
The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned the case, noting it was the fourth opened against her since 2019, describing it as “systematic targeting.” The summons, delivered to her family in Alexandria at 3:00 am, contained no explanation of the charges, fuelling concerns of political retribution.
El-Massry has long been a prominent voice for prisoners, labour activists, and displaced Syrians and Palestinians, earning recognition as a leading human rights defender. She has faced repeated arrests over the past decade, including a 2019 detention on terrorism charges that kept her in pre-trial custody for nearly two years.
Her prosecution reflects Egypt’s wider crackdown since President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi took power in 2014, a campaign that rights groups say has stifled dissent. Although Sisi reactivated a pardoning committee in 2022, releasing hundreds of detainees in a gesture of reform, critics argue repression has only deepened.
Rights monitors contend more political prisoners have been jailed than freed, warning that Egypt’s promises of change remain hollow amid escalating authoritarian controls. Mahienour El-Massry’s latest charge underscores the perilous reality for activists in Egypt, where voices of resistance continue to be silenced by relentless state power.