Zyad El-Elaimy

Personal Information

Name: Zyad El-Elaimy

Nationality: Egyptian

Date of birth: 21 February 1980

Occupation: Human rights lawyer and former member of parliament

Awards: Human Rights Award of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe, 2020

Health condition: "Extremely critical": he suffers from diabetes, hypertension, asthma and an immune disease affecting the chest.

Incidents of Violation

Zyad El-Elaimy is an Egyptian human rights lawyer, a former member of parliament (2012–2013) and the agent of the founders of the Egyptian Social Democratic Party. Zyad El-Elaimy is one of the most prominent activists of the 25 January 2011 revolution, and one of the founders and the official spokesperson of the Revolution Youth Coalition. Zyad El-Elaimy's human rights work has focused on supporting political detainees and defending civil, political, economic and social rights.

In the early hours of 25 June 2019, Zyad El-Elaimy was arrested by plain-clothes Egyptian security officers in the Maadi area of Cairo Governorate, as part of a wide-ranging campaign of arrests targeting many activists involved in forming an electoral alliance to take part in the parliamentary elections, in the case known in the media as the "Hope Alliance" case. After Zyad El-Elaimy's arrest, the Ministry of the Interior issued a statement accusing him of taking part in a conspiracy to sabotage the country. Zyad was investigated in connection with Case No. 930 of 2019 (State Security). On 4 August 2019, the Criminal Court accepted a request submitted by the Public Prosecution to freeze the assets of the defendants in this case.

Because Zyad El-Elaimy gave an interview to the BBC, he was sentenced on 10 March 2020 to one year in prison and a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds. On 16 April 2020, the Criminal Court also decided to place Zyad El-Elaimy on the terrorism lists; under this decision, if it enters into force, El-Elaimy will be struck off the Bar Association, banned from travelling and barred from participating in public life, even if he is released from prison. An appeal in cassation was lodged against this decision, and the final ruling of the Court of Cassation is expected on 14 July next.

In October 2020, Zyad El-Elaimy won the Human Rights Award of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe. Despite this award, which constitutes international recognition of Zyad El-Elaimy, and despite UN and domestic appeals for his release, the Egyptian government continues to detain him without genuine charges or evidence. On 24 June last, Zyad completed two years of pretrial detention, the maximum period of pretrial detention provided for under Egyptian law.

In November 2021, the Old Cairo Misdemeanours Court sentenced Zyad El-Elaimy to five years in prison with hard labour, Hisham Fouad and Hossam Moanis to four years with hard labour, and the fourth, fifth and sixth defendants in absentia to three years with hard labour, and fined all the defendants 500 Egyptian pounds.

Zyad El-Elaimy suffers from numerous chronic illnesses, including hypertension, diabetes, asthma and a stomach ulcer, as well as a rare immune disease affecting his lungs called "sarcoidosis", which requires regular monitoring through chest X-rays every six months. Despite the seriousness of his health condition and its deterioration over more than two years of arbitrary pretrial detention, the prison administration refuses to provide Zyad with healthcare, in violation of Egyptian law and international human rights standards.