Despite having completed his full prison sentence, Egyptian authorities have re-detained activist and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim, known as “Mohamed Oxygen”, in connection with a new case, an ongoing practice in Egypt known as “recycling”. This method is used to keep political opponents in custody by reopening cases based on similar incidents and accusations.
The Terrorism Circuit of the Cairo Criminal Court decided to renew Oxygen’s pretrial detention for 45 days under case no. 855 of 2020, without his physical presence in court. Despite the defence team’s demands for his attendance, he was not brought in, undermining his right to defence and violating principles of public and adversarial hearings, reflecting the exceptional handling of his case.
Oxygen was first arrested in October 2019 and investigated under case no. 1356 of 2019. Although a release order was issued, it was never implemented. Instead, he was immediately “recycled” into case no. 855 of 2020, with nearly identical charges, highlighting a blatant circumvention of judicial decisions and liberty safeguards.
Following more than a year of pretrial detention in the second case, Oxygen was referred to trial in the first, where he was ultimately sentenced to four years in prison, a ruling confirmed in January 2022. By law, time served in pretrial detention should count towards the sentence, but this was not accounted for, effectively prolonging his imprisonment beyond the legal term.
His sentence officially ended on 3 January 2026, at which point he should have been released immediately. However, authorities chose to re-detain him under the same case no. 855 of 2020, previously used to justify his pretrial detention before the trial began. This clearly exemplifies “recycling” as an indefinite, legally baseless form of detention.
This action violates the legal principle prohibiting double punishment for the same act, contravenes constitutional guarantees and criminal justice standards, and stands in stark contradiction to Egypt’s international obligations, particularly the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, which prohibits arbitrary detention and upholds the right to liberty and fair trial.
Notably, Mohamed Oxygen remains detained alone, even though all other defendants in related cases have been released, undermining the principle of equality before the law and exposing the political nature of his continued detention.
Throughout his years in prison, Oxygen’s physical and mental health have severely deteriorated due to harsh conditions and denial of basic rights.
His case places a direct legal and moral responsibility on the Egyptian authorities. Releasing him is not a political request, but a legal obligation and an elementary human right.
