In an exclusive interview with The New Arab, Omar's wife, Nada Mougheeth, spoke about his case, the unfairness and pain of his situation and the personal difficulties he faces because of his uncertain fate. She is only allowed to see him for 30 minutes a month.
Ashraf Omar never imagined that his humorous cartoons about the controversial policies of the government of the Arab world's most populous country would lead to his enforced disappearance followed by accusations of terrorism.
The Egyptian cartoonist, whose work has been published in the local independent media Al-Manasa, was arrested on the night of 22 July after unidentified security forces raided his home in the suburbs of Cairo and confiscated his laptop.
Security forces blindfolded him and took him to an undisclosed location, and also confiscated a substantial sum of money belonging to his wife, Nada Mougheeth. According to the defence, which called for an investigation, a total of 339,000 EGP (Egyptian pounds), about US$6,890, was confiscated, of which only 80,000 EGP was officially accounted for.
Shortly after his lawyer, his family and wife learned of his whereabouts, they alleged that the Egyptian authorities had tortured the cartoonist during his enforced disappearance.
His case has sparked public outcry over increasing restrictions on freedom of expression in the Arab world's most populous country. The hashtag #FreeAshrafOmar was trending and is still trending on Egyptian and Arab social media, with activists calling for his immediate release.
Meanwhile, Omar's cartoons have gone viral and continue to be shared on the internet. His colleagues rallied at the headquarters of the Journalists' Syndicate in downtown Cairo in solidarity with the cartoonist and other media colleagues imprisoned for their work.
The Committee to Protect Journalists(CPJ), along with Cartoonist Rights and 32 other human rights and press freedom organisations, condemned the recent arrests and enforced disappearances of four Egyptian journalists - Ashraf Omar, Khaled Mamdouh, Ramadan Gouida and Yasser Abu Al-Ela - and called for their immediate release.
Humour in trouble, a collection of cases
Cases of cartoonists who have had problems of some importance because of their cartoons or satirical illustrations. There are also some stories of other people who, without being cartoonists, have got into trouble for sharing them.
