Egypt's Court of Cassation has scheduled a November 15 hearing to review the case of Dr. Augustinos Samaan, a Coptic Christian researcher sentenced to five years in prison with hard labor for contempt of religion over YouTube videos comparing Christianity and Islam. Samaan, 37, was arrested in October 2025 and convicted in January under Egypt's blasphemy provision; the sentence was upheld on appeal in February.
Coptic Solidarity, which is representing the case, says Samaan's lawyers were never notified of his trial date, were denied timely access to the case file, and were absent from the proceedings, and that his family learned of the conviction only after it had already happened. Samaan remains in prison while the cassation challenge, built around those procedural violations, moves forward.