Ashraf OMAR
Cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar, arrested in July 2024, remained held in pre-trial detention on bogus national security charges at the end of the year.
Security forces stormed Omar’s house on 22 July 2004, confiscated his personal belongings, blindfolded him and took him to an unidentified location where he was held incommunicado without access to his family or lawyer for more than two days. According to a statement by Omar’s family, he was physically assaulted during the arrest and subjected to intimidation before appearing in front of the Supreme State Security Prosecutor (SSSP) on 24 July, who questioned him about his work, including translations and cartoons, before ordering his pre-trial detention on bogus charges, including ‘dissemination of false news’, ‘misusing the internet’, and ‘membership of a terrorist group’. On 4 August, his lawyer demanded the SSPP investigate Omar’s allegations of ill-treatment and properly document all personal belongings confiscated during his arrest, which the police had failed to include in the case documentation. The SSPP had extended his detention 10 times by the end of the year.
Born on 8 May 1968, Ashraf Omar is a cartoonist and translator who worked with several independent media and news websites, including Al-Manassa and Al-Hoodoud. His work tackles social, political and economic issues in Egypt, including the debt crisis and electricity outages.
Update: On 16 January 2025, national security officers arrested Omar’s wife Nada Mougheeth, an academic and translator, from her home for speaking out on behalf of her imprisoned husband. The SSSP charged Mougheeth with ‘spreading false news’ and ‘joining a terrorist group,’ but later the same day released her on bail. The day before, authorities also arrested writer and journalist Ahmed Serag on charges including ‘membership of a terrorist group,’ ‘spreading false news,’ and ‘propagating terrorist ideas.’ Serag had recently interviewed Mougheeth about Omar’s arrest and ongoing detention, in which she criticised security forces for arbitrarily arresting her husband.