On 17 March 2014, in the middle of the afternoon, several individuals affiliated with the Homeland Security and the Security Forces stormed into Mohamed's house in Alexandria. Ignoring his relatives' inquiries on their presence, they confiscated his phone, laptop and various personal documents before dragging him out of the flat. Unaware of his whereabouts and particularly worried over his fate, the following day his wife sent a telegram to the General Prosecutor, but it remained unanswered.

Torture in secret detention

She later learnt that Mohamed had been brought to the Homeland Security Directorate of Alexandria where he was tortured for two consecutive days during his secret detention. Subjected to electric shocks on the chest and beaten up by officers, he was eventually sexually abused to force him to confess to crimes. Torture and ill-treatment to obtain confessions remain a common practice in Egypt, as in the case of the three Abdelmaksoud's brothers forced to confess to crimes before being sentenced to life in prison in absentia in January 2015.

Following his secret detention, Mohamed was brought to the Public Prosecutor but only to see his detention renewed for 15 additional days and not to be charged. Moved to Burj Al Arab prison on 20 March 2014, he was put in an overcrowded and ill-ventilated cell along with several convicted criminals. In September 2014, he also spent three days in a disciplinary cell with no access to toilets.

Trial before a military court

While his detention was constantly renewed, he learned in mid-February 2015 that his case had been transferred to the military prosecution. This was made possible thanks to the passing of Law 136 of 2014 on "Securing and Protection of Public and Vital Facilities", which greatly extends the jurisdiction of military courts to judge civilians, even though these courts lack the necessary "independence and impartiality" as stated by the WGAD in an Opinion issued on the case of Khaled Hamza and others in August 2014. It is important to note, however, that this law adopted in October 2014 was applied to his case regardless of the fact that Mohamed had been arrested months before its enactment, and thus in violation of the principle of non-retroactivity of the criminal law.

Arrested for being a journalist

The young journalist was thus charged with "arson on Al Wardiyan police station and an industrial housing in Alexandria" and "possessing incendiary devices" while his family believe that the real motive for his arrest was his work at Misr Alaan TV, a channel critical of the government that saw another colleague of him, Mosab Abdalla Abdelhamid Morsy Hamed, abducted by the Homeland Security in July 2015. Following a trial during which his lawyer could not call the witnesses of his choice while the witnesses from the military prosecution made contradictory statements, Alexandria Military Court sentenced him to seven years in prison on 30 September 2015.

"Mohamed was arrested because he is a journalist who was doing his job independently," his wife declared to Alkarama. "We will continue to fight for his release and for freedom of expression in Egypt because journalism is not a crime."

In this sense, Alkarama sent a communication to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) so that it recognises the arbitrary nature of his detention and asks the Egyptian authorities to immediately release him. The authorities should free all individuals who have been jailed for expressing their opinions and ensure that everyone in the Egyptian society is allowed to speak without fear of being arrested or harassed.

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