Egypt: Poet Ahmed Douma sentenced to one year in prison for his peaceful expression

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‘We are outraged to learn that Ahmed Douma is being sent back to prison once again, after being subjected to an unrelenting campaign of intimidation, threats, and legal harassment since his release in 2023. Douma’s imprisonment is a clear example of Egypt’s freedom of expression crisis, whereby authorities respond to peaceful criticism with vicious repression’, said Romana Cacchioli, Executive Director of PEN International. 

4 June 2026: PEN International strongly condemns the sentencing of Egyptian poet and activist Ahmed Douma to one year in prison on charges of ‘disseminating false news’. Douma was convicted for writing an article warning of the societal impact of the unjust imprisonment of critics in countries across the region, including Egypt, and for a Facebook post criticising the inhumane prison conditions in Egypt. 

PEN International believes that the Egyptian authorities have failed to ensure Douma’s right to a fair trial and calls for his immediate and unconditional release, and for his sentence to be quashed. The organisation also reiterates its call for all other pending charges against Ahmed Douma to be dropped, for his travel ban to be lifted, and for the return of all his personal belongings, including his writings, without delay.  

On Wednesday, 3 June 2026, the New Cairo Misdemeanours Court sentenced Egyptian poet and activist Ahmed Douma to one year in prison on spurious charges, including ‘disseminating false news inside and outside the country to undermine national security’. The charges stem from his criticism on social media of the 24-hour lighting in prison cells, and an article Douma penned for Al-Araby Aljadid on 25 March 2026 titled ‘From a Prison Inside the State to a State inside a Prison’, despite the website being blocked in Egypt. Both his social media commentary and published writings are protected expression under international law, as well as under Article 65 of the Egyptian constitution.  

His trial, which concluded after only two sessions on 29 April and 13 May, was marred by gross fair trial violations, including the court rejecting requests from the defence to hear testimony from witnesses and experts, and ignoring requests to inspect detention facilities to verify the factual basis for his statement about the 24-hour lighting, a cause of sleep deprivation for those detained, and which the prosecutor deemed as ‘false news’.  

Ahmad Douma’s conviction and imprisonment for his peaceful expression is a clear demonstration of the Egyptian authorities’ growing intolerance to any public or perceived dissent. 

Background 

Despite receiving a presidential pardon in 2023 after being subjected to over a decade in prison, which was deemed arbitrary by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (WGAD), the Egyptian authorities have continued to intimidate and threaten Douma in an effort to silence him. PEN International has documented a series of intimidating tactics, threats, and physical attacks designed to silence him and to discourage any peaceful expression that challenges the government’s narrative.  He has been repeatedly summoned for investigation and has faced similar charges in six separate cases related to his writings since 2024.  

Since President al-Sisi seized power in 2014, the country's human rights situation has continually deteriorated.  However, since he decided to run for a second term in 2018, the country has slipped into an unprecedented human rights crisis.  Egyptian authorities continue to systematically punish any public or perceived dissent and severely repress the rights to peaceful assembly, association and freedom of expression.  Scores of journalists, human rights defenders, activists and bloggers have been arbitrarily arrested, detained for prolonged periods without trial, and faced trumped-up charges solely in relation to their work or critical views.  

For more information, please contact Mina Thabet, Head of the MENA Region, PEN International: [email protected] 

For media queries, please contact Sabrina Tucci, Head of Communications and Campaigns, PEN International: [email protected]