Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi has granted clemency to a group of detainees, including renowned Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma, as reported by state TV and legal sources.
Ahmed Douma, 37, a prominent figure in the pro-democracy movement that led to the ousting of Hosni Mubarak in 2011, had received a 15-year prison sentence in 2019 for charges of inciting riots and assaulting security personnel. This commuted an earlier 25-year sentence handed down in 2015.
Lawyer Tarek Elawady, a member of the presidential pardons committee, stated that President el-Sisi exercised his constitutional authority to pardon several prisoners, including Douma.
Khaled Ali, a notable human rights lawyer, shared on social media his anticipation for Douma’s release from Badr prison on the outskirts of Cairo.
In the past, Douma was among other prominent activists who faced imprisonment under various regimes, from Mubarak to Morsi and el-Sisi.
While detained, Douma penned a collection of poems titled “Curly” in 2021 during his time in solitary confinement. The collection was exhibited at the Cairo International Book Fair that year but was swiftly withdrawn for “security reasons.”
In one of his prison poems, Douma wrote, “There’s no time for depression, no opportunity for sadness, the flood is raging.”
His arrest followed the 2013 military ousting of Mohamed Morsi, Mubarak’s successor.
Recently, el-Sisi also pardoned Egyptian human rights researcher Patrick Zaki and lawyer Mohamed el-Baqer, both of whom were subsequently released.
El-Sisi, a former military chief who played a role in Morsi’s removal, has faced criticism for cracking down on pro-democracy activists and Islamists.
Since late 2021, Egypt has taken certain measures purportedly addressing human rights concerns, such as amnesties for high-profile prisoners. Critics, however, view these actions as superficial and assert that arrests persist.
Since April of the previous year, over 1,000 political detainees were released amid considerable attention, but nearly 3,000 more were incarcerated, according to Egyptian rights monitoring groups.
Key activist Alaa Abd el-Fattah and other individuals ensnared in a decade-long wave of dissent crackdowns remain imprisoned.
Authorities have justified these arrests on grounds of national security.
This pardon comes ahead of Egypt’s scheduled 2024 presidential election, even though formal candidates have yet to be announced. The incumbent’s participation in the forthcoming election is widely anticipated.
