The East Alexandria Prosecution decided today, June 17, 2026, to release Dr. Omnia Sweidan on bail of 20,000 Egyptian pounds, pending case No. 5830 of 2026, East Alexandria Administrative.
The prosecution charged Dr. Omnia with spreading false news and misusing a social media account, in connection with posts and statements she published on her personal Facebook account, in which she spoke about incidents and practices she said women were subjected to in the obstetrics and gynecology department of El-Shatby Hospital in Alexandria, and which she considered may amount to crimes, during her training period in 2020.
Security forces had arrested Dr. Omnia yesterday, June 16, from her home in the city of Damanhour, before she was brought before the East Alexandria Prosecution for questioning. During the investigation, the prosecution confronted her with a complaint filed by a lawyer representing Alexandria University Hospitals over what she had published on her personal account.
It is worth noting that this is not the first time a doctor has been arrested following a complaint from the administration of El-Shatby Hospital. Dr. Alaa Shaaban was arrested at the end of March 2020 after being accused of reporting the presence of COVID-19 cases, at a time when the existence of such cases was being denied. The hospital’s director considered this an overreach of her role. She was arrested and held incommunicado for two days before appearing before the State Security Prosecution, where she was detained on state security charges, including spreading false news, and held in pretrial detention on this case for several months.