On 14 May 2025, the Cairo Economic Misdemeanour Court sentenced prominent publisher and political dissident Hisham Kassem in absentia to six months in prison with labour and ordering him to pay a fine of 20,000 Egyptian pounds. The sentence stems from charges of defamation, slander, and disturbing public peace in a case filed by former Minister of Manpower and Immigration Nahed Ashry.

Kassem had previously been convicted in September 2023 in an identical case related to the same social media post in which he criticised both former ministers, Kamal Abu Eita and Ashry. He served a six-month sentence following a trial in which his lawyers were denied access to his case file and journalists and diplomats were barred from attending the hearing, among other flagrant breaches of his due process rights. In protest of his imprisonment, Kassem staged a hunger strike lasting 20 days during his detention.

Kassem was first arrested on 20 August 2023, weeks after co-founding the ‘Free Current,’ a coalition of liberal political parties and public figures.