Culture minister resigns after court upholds plagiarism ruling

Culture Minister Jihan Zaki resigned on Tuesday after a final court verdict upheld a decision that found her liable for plagiarizing the work of author Sohair Abdel Hamid in her book. The Court of Cassation rejected on Monday two appeals filed by Zaki and upheld earlier rulings by the Cairo Economic Court convicting her of infringing on Abdel Hamid’s intellectual property rights. The latest verdict and following resignation come after the government defended Zaki’s appointment by saying her conviction was not final. Abdel Hamid, the author of the book The Lady of the Palace: The Assassination of Qut al-Qulub al-Demerdeshiya (Dar Risha, 2022) sued Zaki last year before the Cairo Economic Court, alleging that the culture minister had reprinted whole paragraphs of her work in Zaki’s Coco Chanel and Qut al-Qulub: Between Formation and Accusations of Treason (General Egyptian Book Organization, 2024). A review by a committee of intellectual property experts confirmed the presence of verbatim plagiarism and extensive quotations in Zaki’s book that blurred the lines between the two works, which Abdel Hamid said extended to “50 percent of [her] book.” The review prompted the Cairo Economic Court to rule in Abdel Hamid’s favor in July 2025 and order Zaki to withdraw the book from the market and pay LE100,000 in compensation. Zaki responded to the ruling by filing two appeals in September, claiming that the plagiarized sections fall under the category of “permissible quotation” of sources in an analytical study. However, the Public Prosecution at the time recommended rejecting the appeals, pointing to the experts’ opinions. Abdel Hamid noted that the prosecution also rejected a report filed by Zaki accusing her of slander and defamation. Nonetheless, Zaki was appointed as culture minister in the latest Cabinet reshuffle in February, prompting Abdel Hamid to bring the case to public in a Facebook post , in which she expressed her shock that Zaki was given the top culture position despite the court ruling, sparking a public controversy around the appointment. The government rushed to defend Zaki’s appointment and dismiss the charges as baseless accusations, despite the court ruling. Newly-appointed Information Minister Diaa Rashwan emphasized that Zaki’s case was still pending a final verdict from the Court of Cassation, which must be distinguished from unconfirmed accusations, and that speaking of the charges against Zaki as fact before a final verdict is illegal. He added that the Cabinet would decide on whether to retain the minister or to pursue the necessary legal measures based on the final ruling. Such defense only held up for a few months, however, as the Court of Cassation rejected on Monday the appeals and upheld the initial ruling in its final verdict. Within less than 24 hours, a Cabinet statement announced that Zaki resigned from her position “out of respect for the judicial decisions and to spare the government embarrassment.” Rashwan framed the outcome positively, stating today that the resignation “demonstrates the former minister’s respect for the rulings of the Egyptian judiciary” and that the acceptance of the resignation “reflects the government’s sincerity and its commitment to previously announced obligations” to decide on her appointment based on the final verdict. Abdel Hamid celebrated the verdict, thanking all those who supported her during the case in a live video and stressing that the case represented all writers and creators and should “open the space for serious thinking about the concepts of intellectual property and research regulations.” Still, the statement quoted Zaki saying she intends to file a petition to pursue a reconsideration of the final verdict. The Alaa Abed Law Firm, which represents Zaki, noted in a statement that a petition to reconsider the verdict is one of the legal avenues guaranteed by the Constitution and the law to protect the rights of litigants. In a vague tone that still circled around acknowledging the final verdict, the firm’s statement described the case as “a civil suit limited to a claim for compensation and related matters, and concerns a technical issue within the realm of intellectual property rights, the interpretation of which may differ among specialists, particularly regarding the boundaries between permissible quotation and copyright infringement.” Zaki’s appointment was not the only controversy in the last Cabinet reshuffle, which included appointing Randa al-Menshawy as housing minister, despite having previously been investigated for financial corruption crimes that ended with a settlement and her return of huge sums of money to the Housing Ministry. Rashwan also dismissed the issue at the time, saying she “committed an unintentional mistake, not a felony, and the case was settled with the knowledge of the Public Prosecution.” The post Culture minister resigns after court upholds plagiarism ruling first appeared on Mada Masr .