A Cairo misdemeanor appeals court upheld on Thursday a 15-day pre-trial detention for activist Ahmed Douma.
The Badr and El-Shorouk Misdemeanor Appeals Court rejected his appeal against the order issued on Tuesday. Douma was detained on April 6, pending charges of “disseminating false data, news, and rumors,” after publishing a Facebook post and an article on the Al-Araby Al-Jadeed website titled “A prison within a state and a state within a prison,” in which he criticized the impact of political arrests on state stability.
Douma attended the hearing via video link from prison, accompanied by a guard, according to human rights lawyer Mahienour El-Masry, who was part of the defense team.
In a Facebook post, El-Masry said the court refused to hear Douma’s testimony in person or record his requests in the session minutes, arguing that such matters fall under the jurisdiction of the Public Prosecution.
The defense urged the court to accept the appeal and release Douma, noting he is already under a travel ban and has consistently complied with prosecution summons. El-Masry added that Douma does not know the complainants in the case, undermining concerns of witness tampering. She said Douma openly admitted to authoring the article and post under investigation, making pre-trial detention unjustified given the clarity of evidence and available guarantees.
The defense further argued that the alleged offense falls under “publishing crimes,” which the constitution stipulates should not carry prison sentences.
If convicted in Case No. 2449 of 2026, Douma faces up to five years in prison or a fine of 500,000 Egyptian pounds ($9,600), or both, under Article 80 (d) of the Penal Code, which imposes harsher penalties for publishing false news abroad.
According to lawyer Nabih al-Genady, Douma, who is currently held in Tenth of Ramadan 4 Prison, being subjected to continuous floodlighting and requested that prosecutors inspect the facility.
Earlier this month, Mary Lawlor, the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders, condemned the repeated legal targeting of Douma, calling for an immediate end to what she described as “harassment.”
Meanwhile, the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) urged Prosecutor General Mohamed Shawky to intervene for his release and to review the State Security Prosecution’s practice of repeatedly leveling “false news” charges against journalists, rights defenders, and politicians.
Douma was released via a presidential pardon in August 2023 after serving 10 years of a 15-year aggravated prison sentence in the “Cabinet Clashes” case.
