Ahmed
Douma
Egyptian writer and central figure of the January 25 revolution. Pardoned by President al-Sisi in August 2023 after nearly ten years in prison; questioned on fresh false-news charges in September 2025 and released on bail, then detained on 6 April 2026 and sentenced on 3 June 2026 to one year in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal on 16 July 2026.
- Country
- Egypt
- Role
- Journalist
- Arrested
- 6 Apr 2026
- Sentence
- Originally life imprisonment + EGP 17m fine (Feb 2015); reduced on retrial to 15 years and an EGP 6m fine (January 2019); presidential pardon issued 19 August 2023. One year in prison with hard labour for false news (New Cairo Misdemeanours Court, 3 June 2026), upheld on appeal 16 July 2026; held since 6 April 2026.
- Status
- Imprisoned (serving sentence)
- Arrested
- 6 Apr 2026
- Sentence
- Originally life imprisonment + EGP 17m fine (Feb 2015); reduced on retrial to 15 years and an EGP 6m fine (January 2019); presidential pardon issued 19 August 2023. One year in prison with hard labour for false news (New Cairo Misdemeanours Court, 3 June 2026), upheld on appeal 16 July 2026; held since 6 April 2026.
- Judicial status
- Convicted, not final
- Restrictions
- Travel ban
- Name in Arabic
- أحمد دومة
- Charges
- Original case: assaulting security forces, rioting and possession of weapons during the December 2011 Cabinet clashes. Post-pardon investigations: spreading false news domestically and abroad to harm state prestige (Penal Code arts. 102 bis, 188).
The cases, as we document them.
Where a case was replaced by a new one, the two are linked.
- Case2449/2026
Defendant
Supreme State Security Prosecution
The arrest, and what followed.
Background and work
Ahmed Douma is a writer, poet and one of the most recognisable activists of the January 25 revolution. He participated in protests against Hosni Mubarak before 2011, against the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces in 2011-12, and against Mohamed Morsi in 2013. He published prison poetry from successive cells under each of those rulers and became, for a generation of Egyptians, a barometer of how much speech the state would tolerate at any given moment.
Arrest and detention
He was arrested on 3 December 2013 under the protest law, over a demonstration outside the Shura Council, and on 22 December 2013 a court sentenced him to three years in prison. He was also tried separately over the so-called "Cabinet clashes" of December 2011. In February 2015 a criminal court sentenced him to life imprisonment together with a fine of 17 million Egyptian pounds, in a mass trial of more than 200 co-defendants conducted without individual examination of evidence. The verdict was widely condemned as politically motivated.
Release
Egypt's Court of Cassation overturned the life sentence in 2017 and ordered a retrial. In January 2019 a retrial reduced his sentence to fifteen years and a fine of 6 million Egyptian pounds. On 19 August 2023, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi included him in a presidential pardon issued at the recommendation of the National Dialogue's civil-society track, after he had served nearly ten years. He walked out of Badr 1 prison the same day.
Current status as of 2026
He has remained in Egypt and has continued writing, newspaper columns, a memoir, occasional essays, though under heavy surveillance. He has been summoned for questioning repeatedly since his pardon, repeatedly prosecuted on fresh "spreading false news" charges in 2024 and 2025, and released on bail each time. In late September 2025 the Supreme State Security Prosecution questioned him again and released him on bail. In January 2026 he was arrested at home and released on bail. He was detained on 6 April 2026 and on 3 June 2026 sentenced to one year in prison, a sentence upheld on appeal on 16 July 2026. His pardon, in effect, has not freed him.
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Named in this file
Yasser Abu Al-Ela
“Prominent figures such as Ahmed Douma and Sayed Moshagheb were re-arrested shortly after completing unjust prison sentences and brought up on new charges, illustrating the cyclical nature of repression in Egypt. Yasser Abu Al-Ela…”
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Named in this file
Mohamed Ibrahim (known as “Oxygen”)
“In December 2022, more than three years after his arrest, authorities finally allowed him to receive family visits. In April 2023, Ibrahim, along with Mohamed El-Baqir and writer Ahmed Douma, attempted to defend an…”