He was the 2011 recipient of the Alison Des Forges Award from Human Rights Watch "for upholding the personal freedoms of all Egyptians.

[3][2] On July 23, 2001, Bahgat published an article in MERIP criticizing government crackdown on Egyptian gay communities and a "shattered rights movement," directly addressing the mass arrest.

[4] Bahgat was arrested on 8 November 2015 for three days for "publishing false news that harms national interests and disseminating information that disturbs public peace" during the presidency of Abdel Fattah el-Sisi.

[9] In July 2021, an investigative judge in Case 173 summoned Bahgat and interrogated him after the National Security Agency accused him of inciting the public against state institutions.

"[10] On March 20, 2024, an Egyptian court dropped the charges against five of the last remaining non-governmental organizations accused of receiving foreign funds to harm the state in Case 173/2011, reversing earlier decisions to freeze their assets, and ban their members from traveling.