MOHAMED
IBRAHIM

Background and Work

Mohamed Ibrahim is a blogger and YouTuber who founded Oxygen Egypt, a multimedia platform comprising a blog, Facebook page, and YouTube channel. The platform publishes audio-visual and written reports on human rights issues, political developments, and economic conditions in Egypt. Ibrahim regularly interviews media professionals, opposition members, and human rights defenders, providing a space for critical discussion in an increasingly restricted media environment.

His work is part of a generation of independent digital journalism in Egypt that emerged in the years following 2011, filling gaps left by state-controlled and commercial media outlets. Oxygen Egypt covers topics that are sensitive or ignored in mainstream Egyptian media, including arbitrary detention, forced disappearance, and economic inequality.

The Arrest and Pretrial Detention

On 31 July 2019, Ibrahim was released from Tora Prison under precautionary measures that obliged him to report to a police station twice a week. On 21 September 2019, he complied with those measures and reported to a local police station in Cairo. He was detained immediately upon arrival.

On 8 October 2019, he appeared before the Supreme State Prosecution and was ordered to undergo fifteen days of preventive detention. His detention was renewed on 20 October 2019 for an additional fifteen days, and again on 18 November 2019 for a further fifteen days. On 5 May 2020, the Criminal Court of Cairo renewed his detention, alongside human rights defenders Mohamed El-Baqer, Ibrahim Ezz El-Din, and Mahienour El-Masry, for an additional forty-five days. On 27 October 2020, the Public Prosecution renewed his detention for a further forty-five days.

On 10 November 2020, the State Public Prosecutor accused Ibrahim of involvement in case No. 885 and charged him with joining a terrorist group for the second time. The repeat charge reflects a common prosecutorial practice in Egypt: recycling defendants through successive cases to prolong detention beyond legal limits.

Detention Conditions and Health

On 24 August 2020, Ibrahim's family was informed that he had been transferred from Tora Prison to Al-Aqrab Prison, a maximum-security detention centre widely documented for its inhumane conditions. Al-Aqrab is known for prolonged solitary confinement, denial of family visits, and limited access to medical care.

Since March 2020, Ibrahim has suffered from arbitrary measures in detention that have severely impacted his mental and physical well-being. The combination of isolation, the uncertainty of prolonged pretrial detention, and harsh conditions led him to attempt suicide while held in Tora Maximum-Security Prison 2. The exact date of the suicide attempt has not been disclosed, but it occurred after his transfer to the maximum-security wing.

Legal Proceedings and Sentence

On 20 December 2021, the New Cairo Emergency State Security Misdemeanour Court sentenced Ibrahim to four years in prison. He was tried alongside human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, who also received a four-year sentence. The verdicts were issued by an emergency court, a parallel judicial structure that offers reduced procedural safeguards and whose decisions are difficult to appeal.

Ibrahim's conviction is based on charges of joining a terrorist group, a broadly defined accusation frequently deployed against journalists, bloggers, and human rights defenders in Egypt. No evidence of violence or operational terrorist activity has been presented in publicly available case documentation.

International Response

Ibrahim's case has been highlighted by international human rights organisations as emblematic of Egypt's crackdown on digital media and independent documentation. His sentencing, alongside that of Mohamed El-Baqer and Alaa Abdel Fattah, has drawn attention to the systematic use of emergency courts and terrorism charges to silence dissent.

Human rights mechanisms have called for his immediate release and for Egypt to cease prosecuting individuals solely for exercising their rights to freedom of expression and access to information. His case remains under review by United Nations special procedures.