An Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR) lawyer submitted a request today to the Assistant Minister of Interior for the Community Protection for the conditional release of poet and writer Ahmed Douma, who has served more than six months of a one-year prison sentence.

The EIPR lawyer, a member of Douma’s defence team, said in the request that the writer meets the conditions for release, having served more than half his sentence, maintained good conduct and faced no disciplinary penalties during his imprisonment. The lawyer added that he has met all court-ordered financial obligations and that his release poses no threat to public security.

Douma was arrested on 6 April 2026 and held in pretrial detention in Case No. 4246 of 2026 before the Supreme State Security Prosecution over a newspaper article and a post on his personal social media account describing his previous experience in the Badr 1 prison.

He was referred to trial in Fifth Settlement Misdemeanour Case No. 4894 of 2026 on charges of “publishing and broadcasting false news domestically and abroad that could disturb public security, spread fear among the public and harm the public interest”, under Articles 80(d) and 102 bis of the Penal Code.

On 3 June, the court sentenced Douma to one year in prison with labour, effective immediately, fined him LE200 and ordered him to pay court costs. The New Cairo Misdemeanour Appeals Court upheld the ruling on 16 July in Appeal No. 6560 of 2026.

EIPR’s request cited Article 52 of the Prison Regulation Law, which allows conditional release for prisoners serving a final custodial sentence after they have served half their term, provided their conduct gives grounds for confidence in their rehabilitation and their release poses no threat to public security. It also cited Article 56 of the Constitution, which defines prisons as places of reform and rehabilitation.

The request noted that Article 86 of the internal prison regulations allows the conditional release of people convicted of state security offences after consulting the relevant security agencies. It explained that conditional release changes how a sentence is served rather than ending it. The sentence is completed only when the remaining term has elapsed without the release being revoked.