An Egyptian appeals court has acquitted journalist Mohamed Taher, overturning a six-month prison sentence in a case linked to a report on alleged rainwater leakage inside museums in Sharm El-Sheikh and Hurghada.
The Boulaq Abu El-Ela Misdemeanor Appeals Court ruled on Saturday to clear Taher, a heritage and antiquities specialist at the state-owned Akhbar Al-Youm media organisation, also annulling a 200-pound fine and bringing to a close a legal case that began in 2022 and moved through multiple layers of appeal.
The case began shortly after Taher published a report in Akhbar Al-Youm website on rainwater seeping into museum buildings in the Red Sea coastal cities in 2022, alleging negligence by officials. The article was taken down, and the outlet later published an official denial by the Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities, following its complaint, which subsequently turned into a prosecution case.
Taher was subsequently charged with “deliberately broadcasting false news and statements domestically and internationally” under Articles 80(d) and 102 bis of the Penal Code. He was convicted in absentia on July 21, 2025 and sentenced to six months in prison and a fine, a ruling later upheld by a misdemeanor court on Feb. 9, before the appeals court overturned both decisions.
According to the Egyptian Observatory for Journalism and Media (EOJM), the court accepted an appeal filed by its lawyers on Taher’s behalf.
Defense lawyer Abdelrahman Khogaly argued that the case lacked the legal elements required for a “false news” offense and cited constitutional protections against custodial sentences in publication-related cases.
Article 71 of the Egyptian Constitution stipulates that imprisonment is not permissible for offences committed through publication or public expression, except in narrowly defined circumstances such as incitement to violence, discrimination, or defamation, none of which applied in this case, according to the defense team.
