3 June 2026
Also available in العربية
Responding to the news that Egyptian activist and writer Ahmed Douma has been convicted and sentenced to one year in prison following an unfair trial, Amnesty International’s Regional Researcher, Mahmoud Shalaby said:
“The renewed unjust imprisonment after an unfair trial of Ahmed Douma is a devastating assault on the right to freedom of expression. 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.
“Having already spent a decade in arbitrary detention under cruel and inhuman conditions, Ahmed Douma is being penalized yet again under the guise of bogus ‘false news’ charges, solely for publishing an article and a social media post criticizing detention conditions. His renewed detention is emblematic of the Egyptian authorities’ ongoing misuse of the criminal justice system to punish and deter peaceful dissent, destroying the lives of thousands of people and their families.
