The State Security Prosecution -SSSP released activists who were detained by security forces on 23 April while participating in a protest in front of the UN Women’s Office demanding the protection of women in Gaza and Sudan, on bail varying between five and ten thousand pounds and providing a place of residence guarantee for the male defendants. EFHR had monitored the interrogation by the State Security Prosecution of sixteen activists at the prosecutor’s office amidst heavy security presence around the prosecution. They include Iman Awf, Lobna Druish, Asmaa Naim, Hadeer Tarek, Fareeda Mustafa, Esraa Youssef, Roqaya Sirag, Lina Abdel Samee, Yusra Mahy Eldin, Mona Mahdawi, Arwa Osama and others. In case no. 1567/ 2024, the State Security Prosecution charged them with joining an illegal group and participating in an unauthorized assembly.
According to sources informed to EFHR, some of these accused women were subjected to physical assault and dragging on the ground during the arrest process. Security forces changed their detention location to more than one place, where some were transferred from the Maadi police station to other police stations such as Tora, 15th of May, and Al-Ma’sara before appeared before the State Security Prosecution.
These activists and protesters were arrested on April 23, during a peaceful gathering in front of the UN Women’s Office in the Maadi area of Cairo, and after submitting a petition demanding the protection of women in Sudan and the Gaza Strip, among them were randomly detained and from the vicinity of the protest. Some of them were assaulted and had their phones stolen by security personnel in the area, and then at least 19 people, including political activists, lawyers, human rights defenders, and others, were arrested and kept isolated from communication with the outside world.
