The Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) condemns the arrest of poet and political prisoner Ahmed Douma today at the premises of the Supreme State Security Prosecution. The arrest followed an interrogation based on by complaints filed by several individuals accusing him of “publishing and disseminating false news domestically and abroad in a manner likely to disturb public order, spread fear among the public, and harm the public interest,” pursuant to Articles 80(d) and 102 bis of the Penal Code (Law No. 58 of 1937). The Prosecution ordered Douma’s detention for four days pending investigation, in relation to a social media post and an article titled “A Prison Within the State and a State Within the Prison.”

This is not the first time Douma has been investigated for his defence of human rights, or for writing about his prior experiences of detention including his testimony about the violations he or other detainees were subjected to, and calling for improvements to detention conditions and investigation into abuses. In previous interrogations, Douma stated before the State Security Prosecution that his publications cannot, under any circumstances, be considered false news, as he is exercising his lawful and legitimate right to report facts he personally witnessed; events that he and other detainees experienced during his incarceration.

Last week, Douma received an official summons for interrogation in Case No. 2449 of 2026 (Supreme State Security Registry), without being informed of the nature of the charges against him. Today, he appeared before the Prosecution accompanied by his defense team, including lawyers from EIPR, during which he was informed that the charge of “spreading false news” stemmed from just two posts on his personal social media accounts. The first called for an end to the use of 24-hours lighting in prison cells, both to save electricity, in light of the current energy saving measures outside of prisons,  and to stop what he described as the torture of detainees. In this context, Douma affirmed that what he wrote was simply a recounting of an experience he had in fact lived through during his previous detention, which cannot reasonably be considered false news. The second post is an op-ed titled “A Prison Within the State and a State Within the Prison.” During the interrogation, Douma clarified that the post in question is just a link, the content of which may change without his involvement.

The Prosecution refused to allow Douma and his defense access to the complaints filed against him or to the National Security Sector’s investigations related to the charges, thereby denying them the opportunity to challenge the allegations and present defenses to refute them. Accordingly, the defense team argued that the interrogation was fundamentally invalid due to Douma not being confronted with the elements of the accusation or its evidence, and due to the Prosecution’s lack of impartiality in failing to allow access to such elements and evidence. They further asserted Douma’s good faith and his exercise of his constitutional right to report and to express his opinion, and that the alleged offense of spreading false news lacks both its material and mens rea (intention)  elements.

Today’s interrogation marks the sixth time in less than two years that Douma has been questioned before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on charges of “spreading false news.” In previous cases, the Prosecution ordered his release on bail totaling EGP 230,000. Today’s decision, however, departed from that pattern the Prosecution ordered his arrest and four-day detention pending investigation, without legal justification, in clear violation of Article 134 of the Criminal Procedures Law, and in violation of Article 71 of the Constitution, which explicitly stipulates that “no custodial penalty shall be imposed for crimes committed by way of publication or the public nature thereof”.

In August 2023, the President issued a pardon for the remainder of Douma’s sentence. Since then, however, Douma has been unable to lead a normal life. He has faced various forms of harassment, including restrictions on his movement and an unofficial travel ban, as well as difficulties in securing steady employment due to obstruction in obtaining official documents. This has been compounded by repeated summonses for investigation on charges rising from his exercise of his constitutional right to freedom of expression.

EIPR calls on the Public Prosecutor Mohamed Shawky to intervene to secure Douma’s release, drop all charges brought against him, and investigate the State Security Prosecution’s repeated use of “spreading false news” charges against journalists, human rights defenders, and politicians for exercising their right to express their views on their personal social media pages.