Hany was abducted by Egypt's Homeland Security on 18 November 2015 as he made his way through Cairo International Airport to visit his daughter who studies medicine in Astrakhan, a city in southern European Russia. Fearing that he could be tortured in detention in retaliation for his political affiliations, his family contacted Alkarama which sent a first urgent appeal to the United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) to clarify his whereabouts on 24 November 2015.

A week later, Hany's family was informed that he was detained in a military facility and that he had been referred to the Military Court of Cairo under the suspicion that he had stolen and shared documents related to his former occupation as an Air-Force Pilot, accusations that were fully refuted by his family. Nonetheless, several military intelligence officers let themselves into Hany's house without any warrant in November and December 2015, confiscating all the documents that were related to his former work as a pilot.

The military prosecution then charged him with "stealing flight maps and routes of aircrafts" and "disclosing military information via satellite broadcasting outside of Egypt," on the sole basis of evidence provided by the military intelligence and without allowing Hany's lawyer to consult it. Hence, his case was referred to a military court, even though the accusations brought against him are related to a time where Hany was already a civilian and not an Air-Force pilot anymore, a former occupation that gave the authorities a pretext to prosecute him.

Under Egyptian military law, such accusations could lead Hany to be sentenced to death by the Military Court of Cairo, which postponed his trial to 17 January 2016. Trials of civilians before military courts are considered as "in breach of the fundamental requirements of independence and impartiality and of guarantees for a fair trial" by the UN WGAD, which reiterated its position in its Opinion 35/2014 regarding the detention of Khaled Hamza and others following a trial before a military court.

"Referring civilians before military courts has been increasingly used against political opponents in Egypt in the past year, especially since a Decree adopted in October 2014 has greatly extended the jurisdiction of military courts to judge civilians," declared Thomas-John Guinard, Alkarama's Legal Officer for the Nile region. "In a case like Hany's, given the accusations brought against him and the fact that he was creating an opposition party, it is highly likely that he will be found guilty and sentenced to death. That is the reality of military courts in Egypt: to serve justice in a manner that satisfies the executive."

To remedy to Hany's situation, Alkarama solicited the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD) to ask the Egyptian authorities to halt the military prosecution of Hany Mohamed Hassanin Sharaf and to release him immediately. Alkarama also invites the authorities to urgently repeal the decree that extended the jurisdiction of military courts to try civilians and to amend the 2014 Egyptian Constitution accordingly to end this practice.

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