Abdelrahman ElGendy at the Los Angeles Review of Books:
Ahmed Douma has always known the time would come. He knew that the prison cell would take him back. Over the past three years, while Ahmed and I worked together on translating his poems into English, there were many close calls. Periodically, he would be notified that he was under a new investigation for yet another absurd “false news” charge. Before every summons, he would text me: “The poems, Abdelrahman. I entrust them to you—keep the poems alive.”
On Monday, April 6, 2026, that time arrived. Egyptian poet and revolutionary Ahmed Douma was detained by the Egyptian state, and remanded for four days pending investigation on the charge of “spreading false news.” The new case is based on a scathing political commentary he had published 12 days prior, arguing for a cross-border abolition project and examining how societies themselves become carceral systems.
On April 9, his detention was renewed for another 15 days, signaling the state’s intention to keep him behind bars. Douma was a political prisoner once before, released by presidential pardon in 2023 after a decade of incarceration.
More here.
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