Dr. Soltan

Salah Eldeen Soltan is born in
Menoufia, Egypt.

Dr. Soltan receives his PhD with Distinction in Islamic Jurisprudence.

Dr. Soltan works as a Professor of Islamic Law at Cairo University.

Dr. Soltan moves to the US and becomes a  permanent resident in 2001.

Dr. Soltan founded and was President of the Islamic American University (IAU) in Michigan. He was also a member of several organizations, including the European Council for Fatwa and Research (ECFR) and The Fiqh Council of North America (FCNA).

The Egyptian revolution leads to the resignation of Hosni Mubarak in Feb 2011. The Muslim Brotherhood take power in Egypt through popular elections and Mohamed Morsi is elected President in June 2012.

Dr. Soltan is appointed as Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, attached to the Egyptian Ministry of Awqaf.

Dr. Soltan’s son, Mohamed, is arrested at home and forcibly disappeared. He is blindfolded, beaten and interrogated by state security officers about the whereabouts of Dr. Soltan.

Dr. Soltan is arrested at Cairo
International Airport.

Dr. Soltan is charged with "spreading false
information with intent to shake the grandeur
and prestige of
the State."

Dr. Soltan is beaten by an officer,
who breaks his jaw and two teeth,
leaving him nearly unconscious.

Dr. Soltan is sentenced to death in
the Rabaa mass trial and to life in
prison in the Al Fateh Mosque
mass trial.

The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention declares Soltan’s detention “arbitrary” and calls for his “immediate release.”

Dr. Soltan is sentenced to life in prison in the Al Fateh Mosque mass trial, a case marred by extensive due process and fair trial violations.

While detained, Dr. Soltan is
interrogated about his
son’s advocacy in the U.S.

Dr. Soltan is forcibly disappeared
from Wadi El-Natrun Prison.

Dr. Salah is forcibly disappeared from Wadi El-Natrun Prison.

Dr. Soltan resurfaces in Scorpion
prison, after a year and half
of no communication.

Dr. Salah’s health has deteriorated so much that he is unable to walk or stand and has to be carried into the visitation room by two guards. He remains held in an
unknown location.

Human Rights Watch releases a statement, co-signed by 18 other rights organizations, calling on Egyptian authorities to provide urgent health care to Dr. Soltan, and on the US government to press Egypt to end his
extrajudicial punishment.