Egyptian authorities have barred Ahmed Douma, one of the country’s prominent political dissidents, from leaving Cairo airport without explanation—a move the activist says has left his life in limbo months after receiving a presidential pardon.
President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi granted Douma a pardon on Aug. 19, 2023, along with other political prisoners serving final sentences. In 2013 Douma had been sentenced to 15 years in prison for his role in the Cabinet clashes case.
Douma told Al Manassa that he was preparing to board a flight to Beirut late Saturday when passport control officers stopped him. One officer told him to consult the public prosecutor, offering no legal reason for the travel ban. Douma said he intends to exhaust all legal options to challenge what he called an arbitrary restriction.
“All the investigations conducted with me by State Security informed us of their outcomes, and none included a travel ban,” he said. “I was shocked. I had received no official notification from the prosecution, and yet here I was, grounded.”
He explained that after reaching the passport office, he was detained and asked to wait inside an airport security room. He remained there for nearly three hours before being told he would not be allowed to leave the country.
An officer eventually advised him to speak to the public prosecutor. Douma said he immediately contacted his lawyer, Khaled Ali, and will move forward with legal steps to contest the ban.
“I was heading to Beirut to break the symbolic siege after finally getting my passport,” he said. Douma had been prohibited from obtaining official documents for two years and had received his passport only two days earlier.
“I’ve staked my freedom—not just on walking out of a prison cell, but on being able to move, to live,” Douma said. “My life is almost completely paralyzed because of this ban: my master's degree, medical treatment, recovery, work, even the chance to build a life free of surveillance, interrogations, fabrications, and threats.”
He described the travel ban as “unconstitutional detention, no matter how the security services try to dress it up legally.”
In a Facebook post, Douma added, “continuing to confine me within the country’s borders after my release from prison does nothing but further expose the authorities’ criminalization and deepen the public’s contempt. It only strengthens support for victims and for our ongoing fight for justice.”
Egypt’s Supreme State Security Prosecution has summoned Douma five times this year, most recently on Sept. 29. Prosecutors accused him of “spreading false news” via a Facebook post in which he alleged that former supply minister Bassem Ouda—who served under the Muslim Brotherhood-led government—was physically assaulted by a National Security officer inside Badr prison. Douma was released on bail of 50,000 Egyptian pounds.
