Urgent Update on Solafa Magdy, Imprisoned Courage Award Winner

March 26, 2021 – The International Women’s Media Foundation is urgently concerned for the well-being of Solafa Magdy, an Egyptian journalist and 2020 IWMF Courage in Journalism Award winner who has been imprisoned since November 2019 in pre-trial detention. For months, Solafa has been in urgent need of medical attention, suffering from internal bleeding, chronic pain and severe depression without access to medical treatment. All of Solafa’s personal belongings have been confiscated and her cellmates are now forbidden to speak with her. Losing the ability and interest to eat, Solafa is in dire condition and we fear her life is at stake.

As the United States continues aid negotiations with Egypt, the IWMF and fellow human rights NGOs have submitted an urgent call to the U.S. State Department’s Acting Assistant Secretary for the Bureau of Near Eastern Affairs, Joey Hood. Together, we call on Acting Assistant Secretary Hood to raise the cases of Solafa, her husband Hossam al-Sayyad, and their friend Mohamed Salah’s within the State Department and to engage directly with the Egyptian government to call for their immediate and unconditional release.

Read the full letter here.