The Economic Misdemeanor Court at the West Alexandria Primary Court handed doctor and filmmaker Omnia Swedan a six month suspended prison sentence, along with a 20,000 Egyptian pounds ($380) fine over online posts alleging violations at El-Shatby University Hospital.
“The court convicted Swedan on two charges related to publishing false news and statements online about El-Shatby University Hospital, while acquitting her of violating Egyptian family values,” rights lawyer Khaled Ali told Al Manassa.
The six-month sentence was suspended for three years, as under Egypt’s Penal Code, courts may suspend prison sentences of no more than one year if they believe, based on the defendant’s character, age, record, or the circumstances of the case, that the defendant is unlikely to commit a similar offense again.
Article 56 of the law sets the suspension period at three years from the date of the ruling. But if the same defendant is later sentenced in another case to more than one month in prison for an act committed during or before the suspension period, the court that ordered the suspension may revoke it and order both the old and new sentences to be carried out.
Ali said after the hearing that the court convicted Swedan of “publishing false news, statements, and rumors about El-Shatby Hospital with the intent of disturbing public peace or spreading panic among people,” and of “using a personal account on an information network to commit a crime.”
Swedan was arrested at her home in Damanhour, Beheira Governorate, on June 16, 2026, after the head of legal affairs at Alexandria University Hospitals filed a complaint with the Public Prosecution over the testimony she had published describing systematic mistreatment of women in the obstetrics and gynecology department at El-Shatby Hospital during her internship there between 2020 and 2021.
Her account included allegations that a doctor sexually harassed a patient during childbirth and verbally and physically assaulted other women. She also alleged that unnecessary cesarean sections were carried out for financial gain, that some women were forced to give birth naturally despite their medical conditions making that unsuitable, and that admission to intensive care was made conditional on the approval of a male relative, with the patient’s own consent disregarded.
On June 20, the Public Prosecution referred Swedan to trial on three charges based on her published testimony.
The Public Prosecution said in an earlier statement that the hospital’s head of legal affairs told investigators the hospital had not received any complaints from patients about such violations.
The prosecution added that Swedan acknowledged writing the post and said during questioning that she had observed some medical procedures during her internship but believed, due to her limited experience and recent entry into medical practice, that they were unusual or unlawful practices.
Before the first hearing last week, Mohamed Ramadan, a member of Swedan’s defense team, said Alexandria University’s president, in his capacity as the official responsible for El-Shatby Hospital, along with four doctors, was appearing before court in a lawsuit filed by a woman who accuses the hospital of causing her a permanent disability after a hysterectomy.
Ramadan said the case supported his client’s claims that violations had taken place inside the hospital.
After Swedan’s arrest and referral for investigation, the New Woman Foundation called for the charges against her to be dropped and for an independent investigation into the incidents she had raised. It also called for a law protecting witnesses and whistleblowers, safe mechanisms for receiving complaints inside hospitals, and stronger internal oversight of medical practices.
