1. Personal information:
a. Birth: Ms. Marwa was born on 15 February 1996. She was arrested at the age of 23.
b. Upbringing: She grew up in Suez Governorate in a middle-income family; her father worked as a department head at a company before retiring. She left school during secondary school because she got married, but she later went back to study at the industrial school, decoration department, after having her two children, “Yara and Mohamed”, until she was arrested in the Joker case.
c. Occupation: Student at the industrial school, decoration department.
d. Political activity/affiliation: She had no political activity or affiliation.
2. Previous arrests: She was not arrested in any other case.
3. Timeline from the arrest to the verdict
a. Background of the arrest
– 19 December 2019, arrest: Ms. Marwa was arrested at dawn on 19 December 2019, during a wide campaign launched by the Egyptian security forces after a video appeared showing 4 unidentified children wearing “Vendetta” masks and calling for protests on 25 January 2020. This followed the “September 2019 events”, which began alongside the calls for protest published by the contractor Mohamed Ali and by Tamer Gamal, known as “Atwa Kenana”.
– 23 January 2020, appearance before the prosecution: After a disappearance of more than a month inside National Security premises, Ms. Marwa appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution in the case known in the media as the “Joker case”.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 653 of 2021, Emergency State Security Felonies, First Settlement, registered as No. 195 of 2021 New Cairo Plenary, and as No. 1357 of 2019 Supreme State Security Inquiry, known in the media as the “Joker case”.
– The case began in October 2019 when a video appeared showing 4 unidentified children wearing Vendetta masks and calling for protests on 25 January 2020, following the calls for protest published in September 2019 by the contractor Mohamed Ali and by Tamer Gamal (Atwa Kenana).
– In November and December 2019 and January 2020, a security crackdown began with a wide campaign targeting some of the people who took part in these events, along with random arrests of residents of the area. Many people were arrested, among them men, women and children, over the video mentioned above. Ms. Marwa is the only woman among those referred to trial in the case; the referral order includes 103 defendants, among them 28 children.
c. Charges:
– Joining a terrorist group with knowledge of its aims.
d. Trial and sentences:
– 28 April 2021, referral to the Criminal Court: The First Attorney General of the State Security Prosecution, Chief Justice of Appeal Counselor Khaled Diaa, referred the defendants in the “Joker” case to the competent criminal court.
– 24 May 2021, first hearing scheduled: The President of the Court of Appeal, Counselor Tarek Abu Zeid, set the first hearing of the case for 26 June 2021 before the Fifth Terrorism Circuit (B).
– 26 June 2021, first trial hearing: The first hearings began before the Cairo Criminal Court, Fifth Terrorism Circuit (B), presided over by Judge Mohamed Saeed El-Sherbiny.
– 5 October 2022, case reserved for verdict: The Cairo Criminal Court, First Terrorism Circuit, presided over by Judge Mohamed Saeed El-Sherbiny, reserved the case for the verdict to be pronounced at the 15 January 2023 hearing.
– 15 January 2023, verdict: The Cairo Criminal Court, First Terrorism Circuit, presided over by Judge Mohamed Saeed El-Sherbiny, sentenced Ms. Marwa to 5 years in prison.
4. Detention conditions
a. Places of detention: After her arrest she was held in an unknown location, then transferred to the National Security headquarters in Suez until she was brought before the prosecution, and then transferred to Al-Qanater Women’s Prison.
b. Violations:
– Enforced disappearance for more than a month, in violation of the explicit text of Article 36 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, which requires a defendant to be brought before the prosecution within 24 hours of arrest.
– Electric shocks to her fingers using an “electric clamp”, and with an electric device on her stomach, hands and feet, to punish her and force her to make confessions that have nothing to do with the truth.
– Being banned from visits and other forms of contact for months during the coronavirus outbreak.
c. Living conditions in prison: Ms. Marwa is now held in her cell in Al-Qanater Women’s Prison.