Egyptian activist arrested two years after presidential pardon

Egyptian authorities arrested prominent activist and poet Ahmed Douma early on Tuesday, his lawyer said, more than two years after he was freed under a presidential pardon.

Khaled Ali wrote on Facebook that Douma was "arrested from his home at dawn", although the reason for his arrest was not immediately clear.

Douma's latest post on X criticised police practices and the treatment of prisoners.

A leading figure in the 2011 uprising that toppled longtime president Hosni Mubarak, Douma was questioned by the authorities five times last year over accusations linked to social media posts.

In September, he was held and interrogated for several hours, before being charged by the State Security Prosecution with "spreading false news".

He was then released on bail of 50,000 Egyptian pounds ($1,040).

The activist previously spent around a decade in prison after being convicted of taking part in a protest in 2011 and assaulting police officers.

His initial 25-year sentence was later reduced to 15 years, before he received a presidential pardon in August 2023.

In 2022, President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi revived a presidential pardon committee, which was billed as part of a broader human rights initiative that has seen hundreds of political detainees released, including prominent British-Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah.

Abdel Fattah was freed in September last year after spending nearly a decade behind bars, following sustained advocacy by his family, rights groups and the UK government.

However, rights groups say a widening crackdown since 2022 has detained more people than those released and further curtailed the space for dissent.