‘Disgraceful’: Egypt jails activist Douma after article on its prisons

Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma, a leading figure in the 2011 uprising, has been repeatedly interrogated, charged and released on bail since the pardon. An Egyptian court has sentenced prominent activist and poet Ahmed Douma to one year of prison with labour for “spreading fake news”, according to state media Akhbar al-Youm. The sentence on Wednesday comes nearly three years after the former political prisoner was freed by a presidential pardon in August 2023, after almost 10 years behind bars. The charge of “spreading fake news” is regularly levelled against Egyptian dissidents, including activists, journalists and academics, as well as everyday social media users. Douma was most recently arrested in April after publishing an article in the London-based pan-Arab news outlet Al-Araby Al-Jadeed on Egypt’s prison conditions. Prior to his sentencing, Douma “had been held in pretrial detention … under restrictive conditions, including receiving fewer visits than permitted under Egyptian prison regulations and being continuously exposed to intense light in his cell”, according to Amnesty International. Rights group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights said the article reflected his own experiences in prison, making imprisoning him on fake news charges “unconstitutional”. Rights group PEN America called the sentence “disgraceful”. “His case embodies part of an escalating crackdown on writers in Egypt, where poems and articles are routinely weaponised as courtroom evidence,” said PEN’s Asma Laouira. Assault on freedom of expression Amnesty International condemned Douma’s sentencing, saying it was an attack on the right to freedom of expression. “The renewed unjust imprisonment after an unfair trial of Ahmed Douma is a devastating assault on the right to freedom of expression,” said Mahmoud Shalaby, Amnesty International’s regional researcher. “The weaponization of the criminal justice system against Ahmed Douma and other activists lays bare President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s government’s relentless campaign to crush peaceful dissent and restrict civic space.” Shalaby also called on Egypt to “immediately and unconditionally release [Douma], quash this politically motivated sentence, and end their persistent misuse of the criminal judicial system against him”. A prominent figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime President Hosni Mubarak, Douma was first convicted of taking part in an unauthorised protest and assaulting police officers. His initial 25-year sentence was later reduced to 15 years, before he received a presidential pardon. Since then, he has been repeatedly interrogated, charged and released on bail. In 2022, President el‑Sisi revived a presidential pardon committee, which was billed as part of a broader human rights initiative that has released hundreds of political prisoners, including prominent British‑Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El-Fattah. However, rights groups say a widening crackdown has seen more people detained than those released, and further restricted the space for dissent. “[Douma’s] sentence exposes the hollow reality of the presidential pardons [that he] and others received in 2023 and signals that activists released from prolonged unjust detention are not safe from re-arrest,” said Shalaby. Egypt has also been criticised for a sweeping crackdown on online content creators that has seen young female influencers, comedians and commentators imprisoned