State Security Prosecution on Monday ordered the release of human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Massry on bail of 50,000 Egyptian pounds (about $1,000), after nearly seven hours of interrogation, her lawyer Khaled Ali said.
“The interrogation with Mahienour El‑Massry at the State Security Prosecution has concluded after questioning her over accusations of publishing false news and rumors inside and outside the country on multiple topics,” Ali said.
He added to Al Manassa that the questioning focused on several social media posts, including those in solidarity with Palestine, others about deaths in police stations, and one that read simply “An agent, and the proof.” Investigators also cited a cartoon by artist Loay Hazem, reposted by El-Massry on Facebook to mark the one-year anniversary of the detention of Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar, which carried the caption “Prison is the foundation of power.”
Ashraf Omar has faced charges of “spreading false news, misusing social media, and joining an unlawful group.” He was arrested on July 22, 2024, when plainclothes security officers stormed his home, blindfolded and handcuffed him, and disappeared him for two days before he was brought before prosecutors, who ordered 15 days of pretrial detention. He remains in custody.
On Sunday, El-Massry posted a copy of an official summons delivered to her family in Alexandria for questioning in case No. 6322 of 2025. She wrote on Facebook that her mother was startled when a police officer knocked on her door at 3 am to hand over the paper, even though the summons had been dated Aug. 14.
“They could have delivered it in the morning, but they chose to terrify my mother at 3 in the morning,” she said. “I have no information about the reason. We’ll see on Monday.”
El-Massry, a prominent lawyer and activist, has faced multiple charges over the past decade. In 2013, she was prosecuted for violating Egypt’s protest law after taking part in a demonstration in Alexandria during the trial of police officers accused in the killing of Khaled Said.
In Jan. 2014, a misdemeanor court sentenced her to two years in prison and a fine of 50,000 pounds, later reduced on appeal to six months’ imprisonment with labor and the same fine. The Alexandria Appeals Court suspended the sentence in September 2014.
In another case, a misdemeanor appeals court upheld a 15 months sentence in December 2015 against El-Massry and others, on charges including “insulting the Interior Ministry,” related to clashes at Alexandria’s Raml police station in March 2013, during the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood.
In 2022, Cairo airport authorities informed her she was banned from traveling as she was departing for Venice to attend the ceremony for the Aurora Prize for Awakening Humanity, where she had been a finalist. The award organizers denounced the travel ban.
November that same year, she filed a lawsuit against Hazem Badawi, then head of the National Election Authority, after discovering she had been stripped of her political rights. Her lawyer, Mohamed Ramadan Bibras, told Al Manassa the law cited by authorities did not apply to her case.
