Douma in new remand detention cycle as court rejects appeal

Prominent Egyptian activist and writer Ahmed Douma has entered a new cycle of remand detention, with a court rejecting an appeal against its extension Thursday. He was rearrested on April 6 on false news charges for writing an article about his post-prison experience. Authorities have since held him, sparking fears that he will be once again subjected to a period of indefinite detention just three years after his release from a decade-long sentence. The activist was ordered detained by the Supreme State Security Prosecution after his latest arrest and a Badr misdemeanor court extended his detention on Tuesday for 15 days. Douma’s defense team appealed the extension decision, arguing that there are no grounds for detaining the activist as the legal reasons for holding defendants in remand do not apply to him. Following years of criticism, inside and outside of Egypt, of the widespread use of indefinite remand detention as a way of holding political opponents without trial, Parliament passed a new Code of Criminal Procedures last year. A public consultation on issues in the law had pointed to the overuse of remand detention and proposed that prosecutors should use other alternatives. Article 113 of the new law now allows prosecutors to detain a defendant when there is enough evidence tying them to a crime or misdemeanor punishable by at least a year in prison, only if specific conditions are met. These include if the defendant was caught in the act, if the prosecutor believes that the defendant misled the investigation by influencing victims or other defendants, might tamper with evidence, is a flight risk, or over fears of serious breaches of security and public order due to the severity of the crime. Lawyer Mahienour al-Masry explained in a Facebook post after the appeals session on Thursday that the defense team had argued that none of these reasons apply to Douma’s case, especially as he is already under a travel ban and has always complied with the multiple prosecution summons he has been issued since his 2023 release. Douma is also unaware of who filed the police reports that led to his arrest, and therefore cannot influence them, she said, while he has also admitted freely to writing the article for which he was questioned. Masry added that the defense told the court that the charges against him fall under publishing offenses that do not warrant imprisonment. The Interior Ministry allowed Douma to be transferred on Wednesday from the 10th of Ramadan Prison 4, where he is being held, to the Supreme State Security Prosecution headquarters in New Cairo, where he submitted the appeal request. During Wednesday’s session before the Badr misdemeanor court, which extended his detention, Douma urged prosecutors to visit the 10th of Ramadan Prison 4 to see that its wards are lit 24-hours a day, defense lawyer Nabih al-Genady told Mada Masr at the time. During Thursday’s session, which Douma attended via video conference while accompanied by a prison officer, the Appeals Chamber of the Badr and Shorouk Court of Appeals rejected the appeal, Masry said, and ruled that the court is not competent to adjudicate it since his right to appeal was limited to his case before the Public Prosecution. Douma was arrested on April 6 and ordered detained pending investigation into charges of “publishing false statements, news and rumors, inside and outside the country, with the aim of disturbing the public peace and sowing unrest,” following questioning over an article he authored, titled “From the Prison Inside the State to the State Inside the Prison.” The case has raised concerns among rights advocates that political detainees who were released or granted pardons will continue to face the threat of re-arrest. Douma has faced repeated questioning by prosecutors that concluded with exorbitant bail amounts for his public writing since he received a presidential pardon in August 2023. He also faces multiple hurdles to his life and career since his pardon, including a travel ban, long delays in issuing his official documents and constant surveillance, his brother previously told Mada Masr. The post Douma in new remand detention cycle as court rejects appeal first appeared on Mada Masr .