Dr. Aida Seif El-Dawla appeared today, 9 November 2026, before the Cairo Appeals Prosecution in Rehab, in Case No. 30 of 2026. She was charged with spreading false news at home and abroad, following complaints filed by 17 hisba lawyers. After several hours of questioning, the prosecution ordered her release on bail of EGP 50,000.
This summons comes about nine months after the Supreme State Security Prosecution questioned her in February 2026 in Case No. 809 of 2026, over the Nadeem Center’s report on mistreatment and torture in places of detention. She was asked about the report’s sources and the purpose of publishing it, and was then released on bail of EGP 100,000 on a charge of “broadcasting false news.”
Dr. Aida Seif El-Dawla is a human rights activist who has worked in this field since the 1980s and has a long record of defending human rights in Egypt. She is the director of the Nadeem Center, which assists former detainees and victims of violence and torture, provides them with psychological support, and campaigns against torture in police stations and prisons. The Center publishes periodic reports on cases of torture, deaths in custody, and medical neglect. Its work also includes programs to combat violence against women and to assist refugees.
On 25 January 2026, the Center published a report that documented, among many violations, 195 news items and distress calls from prisoners in various detention facilities concerning torture and abuse, drawn from its 2025 media archive. It noted that these appeals had reached beyond the prisons to judicial bodies that are supposed to protect citizens. Among the most prominent cases the report highlighted were the conditions of prisoners in Sector 2 of Badr 3 Prison. Human rights lawyer Hossam Bahgat, representing the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights, had earlier submitted a complaint to the Public Prosecutor requesting an investigation, based on reports documenting multiple complaints of abuse in the prison. According to the Nadeem report, prisoners complain of a range of violations, including total isolation, years-long bans on family visits, denial of medical care and exercise, solitary confinement, and exposure to insults, beatings, and threats. Seif El-Dawla was summoned for the first time this year before the prosecution following the report’s publication.
