Ahmed Maher

Who is Ahmed Maher?

Ahmed Maher is one of the co-founders of the April 6 Youth Movement, and a prominent participant in the anti-Mubarak demonstrations in Egypt in 2011.

He is a civil engineer who works for a construction firm in New Cairo.

Maher attempted to organize several demonstrations after April 2008. However, his efforts were hindered both by interference from Egyptian security forces and internal divisions within the April 6 movement. In June 2010, Maher helped organize a protest against the killing, by Egyptian police, of Khaled Said, a young resident of Alexandria. Maher has expressed support for the potential bid of Mohamed ElBaradei for the Egyptian presidency.

He appeared in the 2011 BAFTA award-winning film, How to Start a Revolution.

Maher was detained on 29 November 2013 for holding a demonstration against a new Egyptian protest law. On 22 December 2013, together with other opposition leaders Ahmed Douma and Mohammed Adel, Maher was sentenced to three years in prison as a punishment for protests against recent steps by the Egyptian military government. Maher was expected to appeal to further judgment. The international community, including the U.S. State Department and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France, criticized the court’s decision in the context of human rights in Egypt. In March 2014 Maher's lawyer complained that Maher, Douma and Adel were beaten by courthouse guards before an appeal hearing.