He was arrested on June 3, 2020, but his whereabouts were unknown for 17 days, as he was forcibly disappeared at the Cairo National Security headquarters until he was brought before the Public Prosecution Office on June 20. He was imprisoned pending the Supreme State Security Case 649/2020 on charges of joining a terrorist group, spreading false news and statements, and misusing social media.
The prosecution’s investigation with AlTohamy focused on his accusation of collaborating with the Egyptian activist Mohamed Sultan, who is residing in the United States, in the case Sultan filed against the former Prime Minister Hazem Al-Beblawy, which AlTohamy has denied before the investigating authorities.
AlTohamy has been suffering from poor detention conditions since his arrest, as he resides in a detention room inhibited by 30 people and is denied from exercise, he was also banned from receiving family visits until last October.
The Supreme State Security Prosecution renewed AlTohamy’s detention, without his presence at the prosecution office or enabling him to communicate with his lawyer.
AlTohamy is a researcher in comparative politics and international relations, working as an assistant professor of political science at the Faculty of Economic Studies and Political Science at Alexandria University since 2014. He previously worked as a researcher and then a professor at the National Institute for Social and Criminal Research in Cairo from 2000 until 2014 and a researcher at the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies from 1996 until 2000. In 2019 he was a visiting professor at the Free University of Berlin. AlTohamy has published many writings in scientific periodicals.
AlTohamy began a total hunger and drink strike on June 3, 2023, in protest against his exceeding the maximum period of pretrial detention, which was set at two years according to the Code of Criminal Procedure, without referring him to trial or releasing him, before announcing the strike time ten days after its announcement.
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