1. Personal information:
a. Birth: Ms. Nermin was born on 10 November 1983. She has been arrested four times, at the ages of 29, 32, 34 and 36, and has been added to five cases.
b. Upbringing: She grew up in the El-Basateen district of Cairo.
c. Occupation: She ran a Facebook page selling household supplies, in addition to managing her father’s shop.
d. Political activity/affiliation: She was among the first to take part in the 25 January 2011 revolution from its very start, and was a member of the April 6 Youth Movement. She is also known for charitable activities aimed at helping poor communities, which earned her the nickname “Nermin El-Gada’a” (Nermin the stand-up one).
e. In the spotlight:
She came into the spotlight through her presence in the ranks of the 25 January 2011 revolution from its start, until she became a familiar face in the square. She was a member of the April 6 Youth Movement and was inspired by its demands for freedom, bread, dignity and social justice, before the movement was banned by court ruling on 28 April 2014 on the claim that it aimed to spread chaos and threatened national security. The attention around her grew when she was arrested for the second time while holding up banners, together with 2 friends, expressing their dismay and anger at the handover of Tiran and Sanafir islands to Saudi Arabia.
2. Previous arrests: Ms. Nermin has been arrested four times, as follows:
First: the first arrest, the Ittihadiya Palace protest case
a. Background of the first arrest:
– 8 February 2013, first arrest: She was arrested outside Ittihadiya Palace while taking part in a protest against the rule of the Muslim Brotherhood at the time.
– 9 February 2013, appearance before the prosecution: She was brought before the prosecution, which ordered her held in pretrial detention for 4 days pending investigations.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 1922 of 2013 Heliopolis Misdemeanors, registered as No. 62 of 2013 Heliopolis.
The case includes Ms. Nermin and 19 other defendants who took part in protests against the rule of former President Mohamed Morsi and the Muslim Brotherhood outside Ittihadiya Palace.
c. Charges:
– Assembly and destruction of property.
– Possession of explosives.
– Thuggery and assaulting the security forces.
d. Trial and release:
– 11 February 2013, release and prosecution appeal: A decision was issued to release her; the prosecution appealed it, and the session of 13 February 2013 was set to hear the appeal.
– 13 February 2013, final release decision: The prosecution’s appeal was rejected and she was released pending investigations.
Second: the second arrest, the Tiran and Sanafir case
a. Background of the second arrest:
– 10 April 2016, second arrest and release: She was arrested for the second time in Talaat Harb Square with two friends after they held up banners asserting that the two islands are Egyptian and expressing their dismay at the handover of Tiran and Sanafir to Saudi Arabia. They were brought before the prosecution the same day, which ordered them released pending the case a few hours after their arrest.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 5564 of 2016 Qasr El-Nil Misdemeanors, known in the media as the “Tiran and Sanafir protests” case.
The case includes 5 defendants: Nermin Hussein Abdel Aziz, Nancy Kamal Abdel Hamid, Shaimaa Sayed Abdel Aziz, Mohab El-Ebrashy and Khaled Mahmoud.
The case began after Tiran and Sanafir islands were handed over to Saudi Arabia. Several protests took place asserting that the islands are Egyptian, a popular position upheld by a ruling of the Supreme Administrative Court. However, the regime ignored both the street and the law and went ahead with the handover. Several security campaigns followed to arrest activists who rejected the handover, among them the 5 activists in this case, who expressed their rejection by holding up banners denouncing the handover in Talaat Harb Square in downtown Cairo.
c. Charges:
– Protesting without notification.
– Assembly.
– Insulting the President of the Republic by holding up banners containing insults against him.
Third: the third arrest, the “Eid detainees” case
a. Background of the third arrest:
– 23 August 2018, third arrest and appearance before the prosecution: Ms. Nermin was arrested for the third time when a security force stormed her family’s home during Eid Al-Adha, searched it thoroughly and arrested her. She appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution the same day and was ordered held in pretrial detention for 15 days pending investigations in the case known in the media as the “Eid detainees” case.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 1305 of 2018 Supreme State Security Inquiry, known in the media as the “Eid detainees” case.
The case includes 6 male defendants, the best known being former ambassador Maasoum Marzouk, Dr. Yehia El-Kazzaz and economist Raed Salama. Ms. Nermin is the only woman in the case.
c. Charges:
– Joining a terrorist group.
– Receiving funding for terrorist purposes.
– Taking part in a criminal agreement aimed at committing a terrorist crime.
d. Trial and release:
– September 2018, asset freeze: The North Cairo Criminal Court upheld the Public Prosecution’s decision to freeze the assets of Ms. Nermin and the 6 defendants in the case.
– 20 May 2019, release decision: The Supreme State Security Prosecution ordered the release of Ms. Nermin and 4 others pending investigations in the case.
Fourth: the fourth arrest, the “Coronavirus 1” case
a. Background of the fourth arrest:
– 20 March 2020, fourth arrest: Security forces raided her family’s home. Although she asked them not to make noise because of her father’s health, as he had cancer and had just returned from a chemotherapy session, the security forces ignored her and searched the entire home.
– 22 March 2020, appearance before the prosecution: She appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution after a two-day disappearance, was added to the case known in the media as the “Coronavirus 1” case, and was held in pretrial detention for 15 days.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 535 of 2020 Supreme State Security Inquiry, known in the media as the “Coronavirus 1” case.
After the new coronavirus spread and many activists and doctors wrote about the extent of the outbreak and the government’s poor handling of the pandemic, the Egyptian authorities threw many doctors, journalists and activists into prison in a group of cases called the “coronavirus cases”. This case is one of them.
c. Charges:
– Misuse of social media.
– Taking part with a terrorist group with knowledge of its aims and promoting them.
– Broadcasting, publishing and airing false news.
d. Trial and release:
– 17 January 2021, release decision: The Cairo Criminal Court ordered Ms. Nermin released with precautionary measures. The decision was not carried out because she was recycled into a new case.
Recycling
3. Timeline since the recycling
a. Background of the recycling:
– 26 January 2021, recycling: Ms. Nermin appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution after being recycled into a new case, her fifth. The prosecution ordered her held in pretrial detention for 15 days.
b. Background of the case:
Case No. 65 of 2021 Supreme State Security Inquiry.
The case includes 13 defendants. Some were arrested and added to the case directly, while others were recycled from other cases, chief among them Ms. Nermin Hussein.
c. Charges:
– Misuse of social media.
– Taking part with a terrorist group with knowledge of its aims and promoting them.
– Broadcasting, publishing and airing false news.
d. Trial and sentences:
Ms. Nermin is still in pretrial detention in the latest case.
4. Detention conditions
a. Places of detention: Ms. Nermin passed through several places of detention, depending on the arrest. In 2013 she was held at Heliopolis Police Station. In 2016 and 2018 she passed through several places of detention, most notably the Red Mountain (El-Gabal El-Ahmar) camp, El-Nahda Police Station and 15th of May Prison. In many of her arrests she was held in Al-Qanater Women’s Prison, where she is serving her pretrial detention after being recycled into the latest case.
b. Violations: She was subjected to several violations, most notably:
– Enforced disappearance for two days after her fourth arrest in 2020.
– Re-arrest and recycling on the same charges.
– Ban on visits and contact: she could not communicate normally with her lawyer and family during the coronavirus outbreak.
c. Detention conditions inside prison:
Ms. Nermin is held in Al-Qanater Women’s Prison, where she faces harassment during visits. She was completely banned from visits and contact during the coronavirus outbreak, and even when visits were allowed, the National Security permit only allowed visits at long intervals of up to a full month, in violation of the Prisons Regulation Law and its bylaws, which allow pretrial detainees a visit every week.