Egypt has handed opposition figure and former presidential hopeful Hisham Kassem a new six-month prison sentence for defaming a former minister, his lawyer told AFP on Thursday.

Kassem was released in February 2024 after serving a six-month sentence that effectively stopped him from contesting a December 2023 presidential election.

The new sentence was issued in absentia on Wednesday because Kassem is out of the country, his lawyer Nasser Amin told AFP.

Kassem had not been notified of the new charges against him, Amin said, adding: “These measures have been very concerning.” The European Parliament described Kassem’s original prosecution in September 2023 as “politically motivated”.

His latest conviction was on charges of defaming another former labour minister, apparently in the same comments as the first.

Human rights group the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights condemned the ruling, describing it as “continued judicial persecution for political purposes”.

“Retrying Kassem for the same incident and on the same charges… is not only trying the same defendant for the same act twice, but also clearly indicates an explicit desire to punish him for his political statements criticising the regime as well as his political activity,” the group said.

President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi’s administration has faced persistent criticism of its human rights record since it came to power in 2014.

Since 2022, the administration has released hundreds of political prisoners, although human rights groups say many more have been detained over the same period.