Rights groups are pressing for the immediate release of detainees held for years without trial, warning of life‑threatening health risks and severe psychological toll. Among them are journalist Mohamed Saad Khattab, whose condition has worsened sharply, and activist Nermin Hussein, now entering her sixth year in detention.
Khattab’s health in danger
Today, as Khattab’s detention renewal was scheduled for review, his lawyer Ahmed Qenawi appealed to judicial authorities to release his client without delay. He warned that Khattab’s life is at risk due to his worsening condition and said that holding him for more than two years without trial is “unjustified.”
Khattab, a 70-year-old veteran journalist, has been detained since August 2023 for a post on X criticizing a North Coast building project. He suffers from chronic illnesses and has previously undergone heart surgery, Qenawi told Al Manassa.
He has recently become unable to eat after losing most of his teeth, yet the prison clinic cannot treat him. Qenawi argued Khattab could fund his own care if freed, and said his prolonged detention has gravely harmed his family, including delaying one daughter’s wedding for two years.
Khattab had quit journalism seven years earlier after working for several outlets, including Al-Wafd, El-Dostor and Rose Al-Youssef.
Nermin Hussein: 6 years without trial
Calls have also intensified for the release of political activist Nermin Hussein, who has entered her sixth year in detention without trial.
Nermin—“one of the most prominent young faces of the January 25 Revolution”—is paying a heavy price for her peaceful activism and advocacy of human rights, the Egyptian Commission for Rights and Freedoms said Saturday.
Hussein is currently held at the 10th of Ramadan Prison under Case No. 65/2021. She has been arrested four times on what rights groups describe as vague and repetitive charges, including “joining a terrorist group” and “spreading false news”—the same allegations she faces in her current case.
Her lawyers say she is a victim of “systematic rotation,” in which detainees freed in one case are placed under new, nearly identical charges to extend detention. The Commission says she is suffering severe psychological decline, with signs of collapse during hearings and ignored health complaints.
In January 2025, Egypt underwent a UN rights review that produced 343 recommendations on abuses from torture and arbitrary detention to restrictions on journalists and activists. The government accepted most, but rights groups said its claims of progress reflect “a parallel reality.”
Egypt also ranked sixth worldwide for imprisoned journalists in 2024, with 24 behind bars, including Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar, still held in pretrial detention on charges of publishing false news and misusing social media.
