On 18 May 2020, prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah – who has been arbitrarily detained since September 2019 at Tora Maximum Security Prison 2 ended his 36-day hunger strike in protest at the renewal of his detention in a hearing he was not allowed to attend. Human rights lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer’s pre-trial detention was also renewed for 45 days in his absence, denying him the right to challenge his arbitrary detention.
