Four international human rights organizations have condemned the continued detention of Al Manassa cartoonist Ashraf Omar, renewing calls on Egyptian authorities to release him immediately and unconditionally and to compensate him for the time he has spent in detention.
The US-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) published a statement last Monday signed by the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Center, Cartoonists Rights, Cartooning for Peace, and the Freedom Cartoonists Foundation. The groups criticized the referral of Omar’s case to trial on Nov. 15 last year, noting that his family only learned of the decision on Nov. 22 during a prison visit by his wife, Nada Mogheeth.
The statement said that despite the referral order, judicial authorities have yet to set a trial date. Omar and his defense team have also not been allowed to review the case file, undermining their ability to prepare an effective defense and prolonging his pretrial detention.
The groups said the lack of transparency and the continued uncertainty faced by Omar and his family demonstrate the arbitrary nature of his detention. They added that United Nations human rights experts had previously expressed deep concern about his case, describing his detention as “arbitrary and unlawful.”
The statement described Omar as “a journalist, translator and cartoonist who contributed illustrations to independent Egyptian news platforms such as Al Manassa and Mada Masr.” Egyptian police arrested him at his home on July 22, 2024, after he published several cartoons criticizing the sale of state assets and Egypt’s electricity outage crisis.
“Authorities held Omar incommunicado for two days, during which he was subjected to various forms of ill-treatment, including beatings and threats of electric shock,” the statement said. He was later brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges including joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and misusing social media.
His pretrial detention has been repeatedly renewed since July 24, 2024, while his communication with his lawyer has been restricted.
The organizations said Omar’s case reflects a broader pattern in Egypt of using counterterrorism legislation to silence journalists, human rights defenders and artists. “Egypt continues to rank among the world’s worst jailers of journalists globally,” the statement said, noting that 18 Egyptian journalists remain behind bars according to CPJ’s 2025 annual prison census.
In January 2025, Egypt ranked sixth worldwide in the number of imprisoned journalists during 2024, with 17 journalists in prison. Seven of them were detained for criticizing the economic crisis, including Omar, who addressed the electricity and debt crises in several illustrations.
The organizations concluded by calling on Egyptian authorities to end the misuse of pretrial detention and counterterrorism laws to suppress peaceful expression, and to ensure that journalists and artists can work without fear of retaliation. Releasing Ashraf Omar, they said, would be a necessary first step in that direction.
