The promise of change spread like wildfire across the Middle East and North Africa in 2011 as men and women stood shoulder to shoulder chanting a simple yet galvanizing slogan: “bread, freedom and social justice for all.” Decades-old repressive regimes fell amid a swell of unity and optimism in the region.
But almost immediately following the fall of Hosni Mubarak in Egypt, women became targets of sexual and physical violence at public protests. The Trials of Spring follows the ensuing fight undertaken by three Egyptian women — Hend Nafea, Khadiga Hennawi, and Mariam Kirollos — to ensure that the goals of the Arab Spring include everyone. They are willing to risk everything in pursuit of their vision.
At the center of the film is the story of Hend Nafea. From a college activist to a central protest figure sexually assaulted by the military, she is determined to seek justice in the courts. Despite criticisms from her conservative family and a meandering bureaucracy, she remains resolute in her vision of freedom: “nation without torture is a dream that can come true” she says.
The Trials of Spring offers razor-sharp insight into the disturbing and troubled story of Egypt after the Arab Spring, the human rights abuses that came to define it, and the bold women fighting for justice and freedom despite every effort to silence them.
Hend Nafea is an Egyptian human rights advocate. She is also a former fellow at the National Endowment for Democracy. Hend is also the founder and former executive director of the U.S.-based NGO Human Rights Port, an organization working to provide support and protection for human rights defenders and civil society activists in Egypt. She is also the co-founder of Watan Bila Ta’azib (‘A Nation Without Torture’), a campaign that seeks to bring an end to torture in Egypt. As a journalist, she reported on the anti-government demonstrations carried out by laborers and other social groups not covered by mainstream media. She also wrote about the political prisoners and human rights violations in Egypt. For her participation in the 2011 uprisings against former president Hosni Mubarak, she was arrested, tortured, and later sentenced in absentia to 25 years in prison. She has been profiled in the New Yorker, the New York Times, and in the 2015 documentary feature film The Trials of Spring. Hend received the Civil Society Leadership Award from Open Society Foundation in 2017 and she is currently a graduate student at the Heller School for Social Policy and Management at Brandeis University doing a dual degree in Conflict Resolution & Coexistence and Sustainable International Development.