Mohamed Soltan
Mohamed has made international headlines since August 2013, when he was swept up in the crackdown on pro-democracy activists following the July 3rd, 2013 coup d'état. In protest of the return to military rule, Mohamed covered the Rab’aa sit-in as a de facto citizen journalist. As a result, he became a first-hand witness to the violent dispersal of the sit-in, where he sustained a gunshot wound in the arm by snipers while live-tweeting what later came to be known as the bloodiest massacre in recent history. He, along with three journalist friends was arrested shortly after while recovering at his family home. Months into his imprisonment, Mohamed began a hunger strike that lasted 489 days to protest his unjust imprisonment and the inhumane detention conditions. On May 30th, 2015, shortly after a judge sentenced him to life in prison along with 37
others, the U.S. government intervened at the highest levels and successfully facilitated his release to the United States.
Since his release, Mohamed Soltan has briefed many senior US officials, including White House advisors, Secretary John Kerry, Ambassador Samantha Power, and many Congressmen. He testified in Congress to the Lantos Commission on Human Rights. Mohamed Also briefed Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, Reprieve, and other advocacy groups on the human rights violations he had faced in prison and that thousands continue to face. In Brussels, he briefed EEAS Special Representative for HR, Stavros Lambrinidis, EU Commissioner’s cabinet members, Parliamentarians and the International Crisis Group. In the UK, he briefed The Foreign Office and the UK representatives in the parliament and The House of Lords. He has been highly effective in highlighting the grim reality of political prisons around the world by providing a first-hand account of the grave injustice many young people like him have endured.