Italy's Tajani secures release of Nessy Guerra after overnight detention in Egypt custody dispute

Overnight detention

Egyptian police arrived at Nessy Guerra's Cairo home at 3 a.m. on 1 July 2026 and took her and her three-year-old daughter Aisha to a police station. The Italian foreign ministry said the move appeared linked to an order by an Egyptian judge requiring the father, Tamer Hamouda, to see the child.

She was taken away at 3 am along with her child, on the orders of the public prosecutor's office, to allow the father, Tamer Hamouda, to see her.

Italian Ambassador Agostino Palese and Consul Giulia De Nardis rushed to the station to assist Guerra, who has been unable to leave Egypt for months because of a custody dispute with her estranged husband.

Diplomatic intervention and release

Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani intervened directly, and Ambassador Palese secured Guerra's release. She returned home with her daughter the same morning. Tajani later thanked Egyptian Foreign Minister Badr Abdelatty and Egyptian authorities for their cooperation, stating on social media that work would continue to bring Guerra and her child back to Italy as soon as possible.

Custody battle and legal tangle

The central issue is the custody of minor Aisha. Hamouda, described as an Italian-Egyptian, has a criminal record in Italy for several offences and was recently arrested, then released on bail, for threatening the Italian consul in Hurghada. Guerra, originally from Sanremo, was convicted of adultery on 28 April by an Egyptian court, which upheld a first-instance verdict from 19 February, following a complaint by Hamouda. No final custody or visitation ruling exists, her lawyer stressed.

The prosecutor's order cannot be enforced because there is no court ruling establishing custody or visitation rights. What we fear is that this is a ruse to arrest Nessy and send her to prison.

Pressure from Rome

The Italian government exerted high-level pressure on Egyptian authorities throughout the night and morning to ensure maximum protection for Guerra and her child, particularly to prevent further episodes of violence or threats from the husband, the foreign ministry said.

I ask myself how they can consider allowing a madman with a long criminal record to see his daughter, and for a woman who is a victim of violence to be treated this way. I want to know where the Istanbul Convention on gender-based violence ends and where people's rights begin.