RAMY
KAMEL
Egyptian Coptic Christian human rights defender released in January 2022 after more than two years of pre-trial detention. Charges in Case 1475/2019 have never been formally dropped.
- Country
- Egypt
- Role
- Journalist
- Arrested
- 23 Nov 2019
- Sentence
- No verdict — released without formal acquittal on 8 January 2022 after 2 years, 1 month and 16 days of pre-trial detention.
Silhouette in place of portrait. No image is published without explicit consent from the defender or their family.
Released after
Two thousand three hundred+ days.
Days held before release on 23 November 2019. Case closed · counter frozen
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Arrest
Arrested in night raid days before scheduled UN testimony
Security forces took him from his Shubra home shortly before he was to travel to Geneva to address the UN Forum on Minority Issues on Coptic rights.
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Case update
Charged under Case 1475/2019
He was formally accused of joining a terrorist group and broadcasting false news, and remanded to Tora maximum-security prison.
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Case update
Severe asthma attacks reported in solitary confinement
His lawyers reported multiple acute asthma episodes in a poorly ventilated isolation cell, with prison authorities providing inadequate medical attention.
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Case update
Added to terrorism watch list while still in pre-trial detention
A criminal court added him to the national terrorist entities register for five years, despite his case having never proceeded to trial.
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Release
Released after 26 months without verdict or acquittal
He was freed from Tora prison under precautionary measures. There was no judicial decision; the case file was simply left open.
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Case update
Resumes limited documentation work on Coptic rights
After more than two years of silence, he returned to research and documentation work in Egypt, though declining to travel abroad or to grant foreign interviews.
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Case update
Four years of conditional liberty; case file remains open
He marked the fourth anniversary of his release still under the cloud of Case 1475/2019, which has not been formally dismissed.
Approved
The arrest, and what followed.
Background and work
Ramy Kamel is a documentary photographer, researcher and one of the most consistent Egyptian voices on the rights of the Coptic Christian minority. Through the Maspero Youth Union and later as an independent researcher, he chronicled sectarian attacks on Coptic villages in Upper Egypt — church burnings, mob violence, forced displacement — and brought those cases before the United Nations. In November 2019 he was invited to address the UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva.
Arrest and detention
Before he could travel, on the night of 23 November 2019, security forces raided his home in the Shubra district of Cairo. He was held for several days at an undisclosed location, then transferred to Tora maximum-security prison and added to State Security Case 1475/2019. He was charged with joining and financing a terrorist group and broadcasting false information — accusations he and his lawyers have always insisted were a direct reprisal for his planned UN testimony and his work documenting violence against Copts.
Release
He spent the next two years and two months in pre-trial detention, much of it in solitary confinement. He suffered repeated asthma attacks that went largely untreated. On 8 January 2022 he was released without explanation. There was no verdict, no acquittal and no formal dismissal of charges — only an executive decision to set him free under precautionary measures. His name was not removed from the case file and the prosecution's underlying allegations remained on the record.
Current status as of 2026
He has remained in Egypt since his release. He has slowly resumed limited documentation work, though he no longer travels abroad and avoids interviews with foreign media. The 2019 case has never been formally closed, and his health — particularly his chronic asthma — has not fully recovered from the conditions of his detention. He has not been re-arrested as of mid-2026.
Sources on file with HuMENA EditorialReading time · 6 minutes
"I wrote down what was done to my people. That was the whole crime."HuMENA Editorial · 2026
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Compiled by HuMENA's Egypt research team from primary documentation, public filings, family-supplied legal documents, and confidential partner reporting. Editorial responsibility: HuMENA Editorial Board.
Editorial sign-off · published