Mohamed Aboul Diyar held on false news, terrorism charges after authorities target prisoners’ campaign event organizers

Lawyers Wafaa al-Masry and Mohamed Aboul Diyar and pharmacist Hanan Tantawy are being investigated by the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of “publishing false news,” defense lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr on Monday. The prosecution ordered Aboul Diyar remain held in remand for 15 days, pending investigations into the same offense and additional charges of “joining a terrorist group” and “misusing social media platforms,” Genady added. Tantawy and Masry were released on LE50,000 bail. All three were arrested from their homes on Monday morning, according to lawyers and human rights advocates who described the arrests as part of ongoing security scrutiny following a campaign event held earlier this month to call for the release of prisoners. Genady told Mada Masr that they were all questioned by authorities regarding their membership in the Committee to Defend Prisoners of Conscience, an Egyptian advocacy and legal support initiative campaigning for the release of prisoners held in cases tied to freedom of expression or political activism. Authorities also questioned them on Monday about their participation in the committee’s exhibition , “El-segn mish makanhom” (Prison is not their place), which was held on May 13 at the headquarters of the Bread and Freedom Party, Genady added. The exhibition was met with immediate security pursuit, with several prisoners’ family members who had attended the event facing arrest immediately afterward, Elham Eidarous, the legal representative for founders of the Bread and Freedom Party, told Mada Masr. She said those detained at the time were released days later. On Monday morning, plainclothes and uniformed security forces arrested Wafaa al-Massry from a chalet on the North Coast where she was staying with her nephew, his wife and their three children, lawyer Mahienour al-Masry, who is the niece of Wafaa, told Mada Masr. The security personnel “confiscated the rest of the family’s phones and barred them from using them,” handing the phones to the compound’s security personnel and leaving the family unable to learn what had happened for several hours, Massry said, describing the incident as “terrorizing children.” Aboul Diyar and Tantawy were both arrested at dawn by National Security Agency officers in Cairo’s Hadayeq al-Ahram area, said Genady. Security forces stormed Aboul Diyar’s home to arrest him, while Tantawy was detained outside hers, according to the lawyer. All three figures have played active roles in the committee and participated in facilitating its May exhibition in support of prisoners and their families, which featured photographs and videos related to people detained in political cases, as well as testimonies and speeches by relatives, politicians and rights advocates. Since the committee’s founding, Wafaa al-Masry, whom her niece described as a well-known cassation court lawyer, has been active in many of the group’s activities and helped organize and run the exhibition. Tantawy, too, was among the exhibition’s organizers, while Aboul Diyar is a founding member of the group and serves as its rapporteur, contributing to many of its activities. He  has faced arrest and detention previously over his role in managing former presidential hopeful Ahmed Tantawy’s election campaign . He was taken into custody in 2024 and released the following year. The Committee to Defend Prisoners of Conscience was founded in November 2025 by rights advocates, politicians and relatives of detainees to campaign for the release of prisoners held in cases tied to freedom of expression and political activity, while also calling for an end to the expanding use of remand detention, according to its founding statement. Eidarous said that the exhibition was attended by members of the National Council for Human Rights as well as politicians with “channels of communication” to security agencies, all seeking to relay the demands of detainees’ families and colleagues. She stressed that attempts to silence people would fail so long as the issue of political prisoners remains unresolved. “Even if politicians hold their silence, families will not forget their children,” she said. The exhibition brought together family members of several detainees — among them the wives of cartoonist Ashraf Omar, economist Abdel Khaleq Farouk, the former spokesperson for the Civil Democratic Movement Yehia Hussein Abdel Hady and the founder of the April 6 Movement Mohamed Adel — alongside politicians and rights advocates from across the spectrum. Attendees included MP Freddy al-Bayadi, Mohamed Anwar al-Sadat, Laila Soueif and Ahmed Tantawy, in addition to representatives from the Socialist Popular Alliance and the dostour, karama, Egyptian communist and bread and freedom parties. The post Mohamed Aboul Diyar held on false news, terrorism charges after authorities target prisoners’ campaign event organizers first appeared on Mada Masr .