Egyptian Poet Galal El-Behairy—Jailed for Five Years for Writing a Song—Joins Hunger Strike Over Inhumane Conditions
“Galal El-Behairy’s continuing imprisonment and the revolving door of charges he faces--for writing a song--are an outrage, especially given that he has already completed a sentence on spurious charges.… More
Ashraf Hamdi
A political commentator and cartoonist, Ashraf Hamdi was arrested on January 25, 2021 after reposting a cartoon for the 10-year anniversary of the 2011 uprising which led to the… More
Abdel Nasser Salama
Abdel Naser Salama, a columnist and political commentator, was arrested in July 2021 for a Facebook post in which he called for President Abdel-Fattah el-Sisi to resign. While held… More
Ahmed Abdo Muhammad Maher
Maher is an Egyptian author, lawyer, and thinker charged with “contempt for Islam” for his book criticizing religious extremism. Charged in October 2021, less than a month later he… More
PEN America Celebrates Release of Sanaa Seif
“We are overjoyed and relieved to hear that Sanaa has been released from prison and our thoughts are with her and her family as she begins to recover from… More
PEN America Condemns Five-Year Prison Sentence for Egyptian Blogger
"Alaa Abd El Fattah has done nothing more than share information and is being harshly penalized for exercising his right to free expression." More
Gamal Al-Gamal
A freelance columnist and well-known critic of President El-Sisi’s policies, Al-Gamal left Egypt in 2017. On February 22, 2021, upon returning from exile in Türkiye, he was detained and… More
Galal El-Behairy | Status: Imprisoned | Egypt
Galal El-Behairy is an Egyptian poet, lyricist, and activist who has been in detention in Tora Prison in Cairo since March 2018. More
Khaled Lofty
Lofty was arrested and imprisoned on charges of false news and divulging military secrets for translating and distributing The Angel: The Egyptian Spy Who Saved Israel, a book by… More
Sanaa Seif
Seif, an opinion writer and filmmaker, went to Tora Prison to receive a letter from her brother, blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, where she was attacked. When reporting the… More
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