Basma Mostafa

Poetry in Chains: Writers Gather in Solidarity With Detained Poet Galal El-Behairy - PEN America If you have something different inside of you, don’t lose it, don’t suppress it. Feed it by reading poetry, by participating in such campaigns and solidarity.

Find a recording of the gathering and full conversation with El-Behairy’s father, novelist @ahmednaji.bsky.social, PEN International’s @minathabet.bsky.social, and journalist @basmamostafa.bsky.social in our latest blog. Read and share with #FreeGalal

pen.org/poetry-in-ch...

New UN brief prompts growing global action against transnational repression On 30 June 2025, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) launched its first-ever brief on transnational repression (TNR) at a side event during the 59th session of the UN Human...

Honored to speak at the launch of the first-ever UN guidance on #TransnationalRepression — a crucial step to protect exiles & defenders.

📄 My statement: ishr.ch/wp-content/upl…

🔗 UN brief: ⬇️ishr.ch/latest-updat...n/

My recent interview with @ishr.ch about #TransnationalRepression and what should be done.
When safety becomes conditional, so does democracy.
We don’t need more praise — we need protection.
We don’t need to be admired for our resilience — we need systems that prevent violence in the first place.

Join us at DW Global Media Forum! @reporter-ohne-grenzen.de

Egypt must release poet Galal El-Behairy, unjustly jailed since he was 28 years old for his poetry and song lyrics. Today marks his 35th birthday—his 7th spent behind bars. How many more birthdays will Egypt rob from him? #FreeGalal #PoetryIsNotACrime

Joint Statement

We, the undersigned organizations, call on the Egyptian government to immediately end its campaign of transnational repression targeting exiled Egyptian journalists – specifically Egyptian journalist @basmamostafa.bsky.social.

Read the full Statement: penberlin.de/basma-mostafa/

Poetry in Chains: A Conversation with Egyptian Poets and Writers In Honor of Galal El-Behairy’s 35th Birthday - PEN America Join us to mark the 35th birthday of PEN America’s 2025 Freedom to Write honoree Galal El-Behairy, currently detained in Egypt for his words.

To honor El-Behairy’s birthday, @ahmednaji.bsky.social ‬joins us with @minathabet.bsky.social & @basmamostafa.bsky.social to discuss creativity, dissent, and repression in Egypt. El-Behairy’s father will join us as a guest of honor.

RSVP for Friday 6/27 at 11 AM ET: pen.org/event/poetry...

CPJ, others call on Egypt to end transnational repression against exiled journalists - Committee to Protect Journalists In a joint statement, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 25 press freedom and human rights organizations called on the Egyptian government to end its transnational repression campaign agains...

(1/2) RFKHR joins partner organizations in condemning #Egypt’s transnational repression against journalist
@basmamostafa.bsky.social, who has been targeted across 4 countries, in connection with her work.

cpj.org/2025/06/cpj-...

CPJ, others call on Egypt to end transnational repression against exiled journalists - Committee to Protect Journalists In a joint statement, led by the Committee to Protect Journalists, 25 press freedom and human rights organizations called on the Egyptian government to end its transnational repression campaign agains...

We join @pressfreedom.bsky.social and human rights groups to demand an end to Egypt’s transnational repression targeting exiled journalist @basmamostafa.bsky.social in Germany. German authorities must act urgently to ensure safety for Mostafa and all writers living in exile. cpj.org/2025/06/cpj-...

Transnational repression of human rights defenders: The impacts on civic space and the responsibility of host states | Think Tank | European Parliament Transnational repression of human rights defenders: The impacts on civic space and the responsibility of host states

Important work by @mmichae1sen.bsky.social on #TNR
This is not theory, my case is one of many and despite complaints, my case acknowledged by Germany&UN. Still unprotected.
This study shows why that must change!! what EU states must do to fix it!
👇
www.europarl.europa.eu/thinktank/en...

Egypt: End transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa - ARTICLE 19 Civil society calls on the Egyptian government to immediately end campaign of transnational repression targeting exiled Egyptian journalists.

End transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa

www.article19.org/resources/eg...

Egypt: End transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa The undersigned human rights organisations, including the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) and the World Organisation Against Torture (OMCT), within the framework of the Observatory for the Protection of Human Rights Defenders, urge the Egyptian authorities to stop targeting...

Egypt: End transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa
->International Federation for Human Rights | More info from EcoSearch

Egypt | Rights organizations call on Egypt to end transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa - HuMENA 26 rights organizations call on Egypt to end its cross-border campaign of harassment and surveillance targeting exiled journalist Basma Mostafa. The statement urges Egypt to respond to a UN report and...

🔵 26 organizations—including HuMENA, Human Rights Watch, and CPJ—call for:
▪️ An official response from Egypt to UN communication AL EGY 6/2024
▪️ Full protection & accountability from German authorities

📖 Full statement:
🔗 humena.org/statements/stop-egypt-transnational-repression-basma-mostafa

🇪🇬 | #Egypt #TransnationalRepression
🔵 Even in exile, journalist Basma Mostafa remains under threat.
UN experts documented surveillance, harassment & gender-based digital abuse targeting her across 🇩🇪 🇨🇭 🇰🇪 🇱🇧.

🔗 humena.org/statements/stop-egypt-transnational-repression-basma-mostafa

Egypt | Rights organizations call on Egypt to end transnational repression against exiled journalist Basma Mostafa - HuMENA 26 rights organizations call on Egypt to end its cross-border campaign of harassment and surveillance targeting exiled journalist Basma Mostafa. The statement urges Egypt to respond to a UN report and...

#BasmaMostafa #PressFreedom #Exile #HumanRights #HuMENA

Poetry in Chains: A Conversation with Egyptian Poets and Writers In Honor of Galal El-Behairy’s 35th Birthday - PEN America Join us to mark the 35th birthday of PEN America’s 2025 Freedom to Write honoree Galal El-Behairy, currently detained in Egypt for his words.

I’m joining Poetry in Chains, hosted by @penamerica.bsky.social on Friday, June 27, to mark poet #GalalElBehairy’s 7th birthday behind bars — jailed for his words, not crimes.
Writing is not a threat.
Join us & raise your voice to #FreeGalal.
➡️ To register: pen.org/event/poetry...

Catch MCJN member @basmamostafa.bsky.social speaking in this Global Media Forum breakout session, hosted by
@rsf.org.

📍July 7 | 2:15 PM | Global Media Forum | @news.dw.com

#TransnationalRepression #Journalists #Exile #MediaFreedom

Saudi HRD Abdulrahman Al-Khalidi has spent over 3 years in detention in #Bulgaria.
He’s at risk of deportation to 🇸🇦 where prison, torture, or execution await. Yesterday, Saudi Arabia executed journalist Turki Al-Jasser for tweeting. #FreeAlKhalidi
#NoDeportation #TransnationalRepression

Basma Mostafa's schedule for NR25 Check out what Basma Mostafa will be attending at NR25

Glad to join #NetzwerkRecherche2025. I’ll speak about #TransnationalRepression alongside Vietnamese journalist Trung Khoa Lê and Chinese journalist Yutong Su. Hosted by @reporter-ohne-grenzen.de moderated by Anne Renzenbrink. More Details: nr25.sched.com/speaker/basm...
#ExiledVoices #PressFreedom

How can I contact you? I have a case concerning transnational repression.

Human Rights Commissioner Amtsberg on the report concerning alleged transnational repression against Egyptian human rights defender and journalist Basma Mostafa in Germany Luise Amtsberg, Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Assistance at the Federal Foreign Office, issued the following statement today (16 April 2025): Germany…

References:

🔹 German government public statement on my case www.auswaertiges-amt.de/en/newsroom/...

🔹 UN Special Rapporteurs’ joint communication on my case: spcommreports.ohchr.org/TMResultsBas...

These are not allegations. They are officially documented threats — still unanswered.

10) Germany’s new government pledged in its coalition agreement to confront #TNR. Now is the time to act.
Words are not enough.

9) I did everything I was supposed to do. I reported. I documented. I took legal action. I asked for help & I was left alone. This is what #TNR looks like. And this is what neglect looks like.

8) I am not an exception.
I am not alone. Dissidents across Europe face the same threats — and the same silence from host countries.
We demand protection.
We demand accountability.
We demand action to confront #TransnationalRepression

7) Host states demand that we carry the full burden of proof and when we do, they turn away. They ask for evidence, and when we deliver, they respond with silence.
In doing so, they don’t just fail to protect us they become complicit in enabling the very repression we fled.

6) Housing is not a secondary issue especially when formally documented threats have been submitted to all relevant authorities. #Germany has a moral and political obligation
under its own constitution, asylum law, and international protection standards. This is not charity. It’s a legal duty.

5) I can’t continue my investigative work.
stories I’ve completed remain unpublished.
Because I know the regime that once jailed me now knows where I live. And German authorities — at all levels — know this too. Yet they leave me to face it alone. This is not protection. This is abandonment.

4) My home address was leaked. We were being watched around our home — myself and my husband, a human rights lawyer. LKA police advised me to relocate for security reasons.
But I’ve remained at that same address. I hold political asylum.
Safe housing and protection are Germany’s responsibility.

3) My case has been acknowledged by five UN Special Rapporteurs and the German government.
And yet, investigations into these incidents have been stalled since 2022. Recognition without protection and accountability means nothing.

2) #TNR isn’t abstract, it’s lived. I’ve faced in Berlin: physical assault,threats of sexual violence,online harassment, threats to my children& surveillance by Egyptian diplomats and individuals acting on their behalf. In Geneva, I was threatened with arrest inside my hotel for working with the UN.