16 July 2019; MEMO: Ola Al-Qaradawi was transferred from Egypt’s Al-Qanater women’s prison yesterday for a pretrial detention hearing which was scheduled to be held today.
Ola, 58, was returned to solitary confinement at the beginning of July despite a court ordering her release hours earlier, on new but similar charges, that she had used her relationships in prison to support a terror group.
At the court hearing yesterday a prosecutor extended her detention for 15 days.
Her lawyer has said that Ola will remain on hunger strike for as long as she is in detention. She has already been in solitary confinement for 740 days and her family fear for her health. She has been denied adequate food and medical care whilst in prison.
Ola’s cell measures 160cm by 180cm and does not have a bed, toilet or sufficient ventilation or lighting, according to Amnesty International.
Amnesty are calling for the immediate release of Ola and her husband Hosam Khalaf, who was also arrested in June 2017 in the midst of the blockade on Qatar by Egypt, Saudi Arabia, the UAE and Bahrain.
Khalaf is waiting for his detention renewal hearing, which has been pushed until 3 August. His detention period has exceeded the two-year time limit detainees are allowed to be kept in pre-trial detention under Egyptian law. Neither Ola or Hosam have received any visits from family or lawyers since their arrest.
Human Rights Watch has said that Al-Qaradawi’s detention is unlawful and has called for her immediate release. “Egypt’s prosecutors have made a mockery of the law,” said Middle East and North African Director of HRW, Sarah Leah Whitson.
