Egypt's Culture Minister Gihane Zaki resigns following final copyright infringement ruling

CAIRO - 7 July 2026: Culture Minister Gihane Zaki tendered her resignation Tuesday to Prime Minister Mostafa Madbouly following a final ruling by the Court of Cassation rejecting her appeals in a high-profile intellectual property theft case.

Madbouly accepted the resignation, expressing appreciation for Zaki’s ministerial service, according to a Cabinet statement.

The political exit followed a decisive ruling by Egypt's highest appellate court upholding a prior Economic Court judgment.

That initial verdict, issued after an investigation by a tripartite panel of intellectual property experts, found Zaki liable for infringing upon the copyrights of author Soheir Abdel Hamid.

The judicial decree ordered Zaki to pay 100,000 EGP in financial damages, ordered the immediate withdrawal of the contested book from all commercial markets, and banned its future distribution.

In an official statement issued through the cabinet office, Zaki affirmed her total respect for the Egyptian judiciary, stating she stepped down voluntarily to shield the government from political embarrassment regarding a private legal matter.

She noted that she will pursue all remaining extraordinary legal remedies, including filing a petition for a judicial review of the verdict as permitted by law, maintaining that exercising her statutory rights does not conflict with her compliance with judicial rulings.