Since the arrest of cartoonist and translator Ashraf Omar on 22 July 2024, MENA Solidarity has been campaigning alongside human rights defenders, journalists, and trade unionists to demand his immediate release. Ashraf’s work uses wit and creativity to highlight the struggles of ordinary people, yet he is now being targeted simply for exercising his right to free expression.

His detention has been repeatedly renewed without a trial date, part of a broader, escalating crackdown on freedom of expression in Egypt. We cannot let his voice be silenced behind bars.

What you can do:

• Write to the Egyptian embassy in your country calling for Ashraf Omar’s immediate release and urging an end to the persecution of journalists.
• If you are a cartoonist and would like to add your name to this open letter calling for Ashraf Omar’s release, please email action@menasolidaritynetwork.net.
• Pass a resolution in your union branch calling for Ashraf Omar’s release – see the full statement of solidarity from the Egyptian Journalists Union here.

Kennedy Human Rights Center, the Committee to Protect Journalists, Cartoonists Rights, Cartooning for Peace, and Freedom Cartoonists Foundation condemn the continued detention of Egyptian cartoonist Ashraf Omar and call on the Egyptian authorities to immediately and unconditionally release him and provide full reparations.

On November 15, 2025, Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution referred Mr. Omar’s case to the Cairo Criminal Court. His family learned of the referral only on November 22, when his wife, Nada Mogheeth, visited him in prison.

Despite the referral, judicial authorities have not set a trial date nor granted Mr. Omar and his defence team access to his case files, undermining his right to prepare his defense and further prolonging his pretrial detention. The lack of transparency has left Omar and his family in prolonged uncertainty and highlights the arbitrary nature of his detention.

Mr. Omar, a journalist, translator, and cartoonist, has contributed to the independent Egyptian news outlets Al-Manassa and Mada Masr media. Following the publication of several of his cartoons criticizing the sale of state assets and the power cut crisis in Egypt, Egyptian police arrested Mr. Omar at his home on July 22, 2024.

Authorities held Mr. Omar incommunicado for two days, during which he was subjected to different forms of mistreatment, such as beatings and threats of electric shock. Mr. Omar was then brought before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of joining a terrorist group, publishing false news, and misusing social media. 

Since July 24, 2024, courts have repeatedly renewed Mr. Omar’s pre-trial detention, limiting his access to legal counsel. United Nations human rights experts have previously expressed deep concern over his detention, calling it “arbitrary and unlawful.” 

Mr. Omar’s case reflects Egypt’s broader pattern of using counter-terrorism legislation to silence journalists, human rights defenders, and artists. Egypt continues to rank among the world’s worst jailers of journalists globally, according to CPJ’s 2025 annual prison census, with 18 journalists who are still behind bars. 

Egyptian authorities must end the misuse of pretrial detention and counterterrorism laws to suppress peaceful expression and ensure that journalists and artists can work without fear of reprisal. Releasing Ashraf Omar would be an essential first step.

Original Source: Alert Egypt – Ashraf Omar (In prison since one year and eight months), via Cartooning For Peace