The Ludovic Trarieux Human Rights Prize 2014 awarded to imprisoned Egyptian lawyer Mahinour el-Masry

On June 25 2014, a jury of 24 European lawyers, representing bars from Paris, Bordeaux, Amsterdam, Berlin, Brussels, Geneva, Rome, Luxembourg, and members of the European Bar Human Rights Institute (IDHAE - l’Institut des Droits de l’Homme des Avocats européens) and the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA – International Association of Lawyers), awarded the 19th Ludovic Trarieux Prize to Mahinour el-Masry, an Egyptian lawyer.

A militant defender of human rights, Mahinour el-Masry has been imprisoned several times under the regime of President Mubarak. A figure head of the uprising which overturned Hosni Mubarak, she continued the struggle after the “Arab Spring,” and was one of the figures of the Egyptian Revolution of 2011. Ms. El-Masry was also convicted under the Morsi and el-Sisi regimes.  

Since May 20, 2014, she has been serving a two-year jail sentence for “protest without a permit” in December 2013. On July 20, 2014, after several adjournments, the Court of Appeal in Alexandria decided to reduce her jail sentence to six months.  

The jury launched an appeal to Egyptian authorities to release Mahinour el-Masry, immediately and without conditions.

Mahinour el-Masry is invited to Florence, Italy to receive her prize in an official ceremony on October 31st 2014, on the occasion of the UIA Annual Congress, in the presence of lawyers from all over the world.

The Ludovic Trarieux Prize

Created in 1984, the "Ludovic Trarieux International Human Rights Prize,” named after a French lawyer and politician, is the oldest reward given to a lawyer

This award, "given by lawyers to lawyers,” is granted to a lawyer “who throughout his career has illustrated, by his activity or his suffering, the defence of human rights, the promotion of defence rights, the supremacy of law, and the struggle against racism and intolerance in any form.” It is awarded based on suggestions from human rights NGOs, lawyers’ associations and bar associations from all over the world.