Mohamed El-Baqer

Personal Information

Name: Mohamed El-Baqer

Nationality: Egyptian

Date of birth: 20 July 1980

Occupation: Human rights lawyer and executive director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms

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

Trials: Case No. 1356 of 2019.

("Recycling") Case No. 855 of 2020.

Incidents of Violation

Mohamed El-Baqer is an Egyptian human rights lawyer and the executive director of the Adalah Center for Rights and Freedoms. El-Baqer's human rights work has focused on providing support to human rights defenders in Egypt, promoting student rights and freedoms, confronting violations committed by the Egyptian authorities, fair trial guarantees, and opposing the death penalty in Egypt. On 29 September 2019, while Mohamed El-Baqer was attending the interrogation of his client, political activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah, at the State Security Prosecution, El-Baqer was unexpectedly arrested, then transferred to an unknown location and not allowed any visits. El-Baqer was charged with joining and financing a terrorist organisation and using social media for illegal activities. Since his arrest, El-Baqer has faced inhumane detention conditions in Tora Maximum Security Prison 2, including psychological intimidation and physical assault at the moment of his arrival at the place of detention, in addition to the deterioration of his conditions of detention.

On 18 February 2020, the Tora Criminal Court ordered the release of Mohamed El-Baqer, but on 20 February it accepted the Prosecution's appeal and renewed his detention for 45 days pending investigation. On 31 August 2020, Mohamed El-Baqer was "recycled" into Case No. 855 of 2020, and the Prosecution charged him with joining a terrorist group and publishing and broadcasting false news. In recognition of his prominent human rights work and the violations he has suffered because of his defence of human rights in Egypt, Mohamed El-Baqer won the Human Rights Award of the Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe in October 2020. Despite this award, which constitutes international recognition of Mohamed El-Baqer, and despite UN and domestic appeals for El-Baqer's release, the Egyptian government continues to detain El-Baqer without genuine charges or evidence.