“Ramadan Without Bars” | Mohamed “Oxygen”: Sentence Completed, Detention Continues

The Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights (ECESR) is marking the holy month of Ramadan—embodying the values of mercy, justice, and family unity—by highlighting the situation of individuals detained in cases related to freedom of opinion and expression, whether held in pretrial detention or serving custodial sentences, and by renewing its call for an end to their continued suffering.
In this context, the Center reiterates its “Ramadan Without Bars” campaign, a series of articles shedding light on prisoners and detainees held in opinion-related cases, with the aim of advocating for their release, as well as the release of all others similarly detained.
Journalist and blogger Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan, widely known as “Oxygen,” is a graduate of the Workers’ University. He produced and commented on media content through his blog and YouTube channel, “Oxygen Egypt,” whose motto read: “We bring you the truth and strive to establish objective facts, as required by the integrity of the word.”
In the early hours of 6 April 2018, security forces raided his home in the Basateen district of Cairo. He was arrested and taken to an undisclosed location, where he remained forcibly disappeared for 11 days before appearing on 17 April 2018 before the Supreme State Security Prosecution. He was charged in Case No. 621 of 2018 with disseminating false news and joining a terrorist group.
After more than one year in pretrial detention, the Criminal Court ruled on 22 July 2019 to replace his detention with a precautionary measure requiring him to report to a police station twice weekly. However, on 21 September 2019, while complying with that measure, he was re-arrested. On 8 October 2019, he again appeared before the Supreme State Security Prosecution on the same charges.
He was subsequently added to Case No. 1356 of 2019, facing identical accusations, initiating a further 14 months of pretrial detention until 3 November 2020, when the Criminal Court once more ordered his release subject to precautionary measures.
Instead of implementing the release order, he was re-charged in Case No. 855 of 2020 with the same allegations. The case also included activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and human rights lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, both of whom were later released pursuant to presidential pardons. The charges concerned publishing false news and statements allegedly harmful to national interests.
His detention persisted through successive cases despite repeated release decisions. In August 2021, while held in Tora Maximum Security Prison, his psychological condition reportedly deteriorated to the point of a suicide attempt, from which he was rescued.
In February 2022, his mother passed away. Despite widespread appeals to allow him temporary release to attend her funeral, he declined to leave detention to bid her farewell, reflecting the depth of despair he had reached.
Mohamed “Oxygen” spent more than six years in pretrial detention and under successive judicial rulings in connection with his media activities and use of social media platforms. The Emergency State Security Misdemeanor Court ultimately sentenced him to four years’ imprisonment in Case No. 1228 of 2021 (Emergency State Security Registry). The sentence, which is final and not subject to appeal, was ratified by the President of the Republic on 3 January 2022, without crediting the period previously spent in pretrial detention.
His sentence was fully completed on 3 January 2026. Nevertheless, he was not released and remained detained at Badr 1 Correctional and Rehabilitation Center. His defense team was subsequently informed that he had been placed in renewed pretrial detention in connection with Case No. 855 of 2020 (Supreme State Security Prosecution Registry)—a case pending for approximately six years, in which he had previously been investigated while detained in other cases, notwithstanding the release of the remaining defendants.
At a hearing held on 20 January to consider detention renewal orders—17 days after the completion of his sentence—he did not appear via video conference, unlike other defendants. The court nonetheless ordered the renewal of his detention for 45 days in absentia, without hearing his statements or defense, and without addressing the fact of his continued detention beyond the expiry of his sentence.
As he approaches six years behind bars, his mother’s wish—expressed in a 2018 video—that her son and others who love their country and are loved by ordinary citizens be released, remains unfulfilled.
ECESR renews its call upon the Public Prosecutor to uphold the rule of law and order the release of Mohamed Ibrahim Radwan (“Oxygen”). The Center also calls upon criminal court circuits reviewing detention renewal orders to adhere strictly to fair trial guarantees, foremost among them ensuring defendants’ right to attend renewal hearings, to be heard, to present their defense, and to have their case files duly examined, so as to prevent pretrial detention from becoming an open-ended punishment.
On this occasion, renewed calls are made for the release of Mohamed “Oxygen” and all prisoners and detainees held in connection with freedom of opinion and expression cases, so that they may return to their families and regain their liberty as a fundamental right, and so that their Ramadan is no longer spent behind bars