Cairo: A court in the Egyptian capital sentenced on Sunday 23 pro-democracy campaigners to three years in prison each for illegally protesting outside the presidential court.
The court, held inside a police institution in southern Court, also ordered the defendants to pay 10, 000 Egyptian pounds (some Dh 5,263) in fine each and be placed under police oversight for three more years.
The court also convicted the defendants of instigating riot, illegally possessing weapons, vandalizing public and private properties as well as attacking security forces.
Defence lawyers said they would appeal the verdict, the latest against pro-democracy activists in Egypt.
The case is related to a rally held by activists in mid-July against an anti-protest law near the presidential palace in the Cairo quarter of Heliopolis.
One defendant is Sanaa Ahmad Saif Al Isla, a sister of Ala’a Abdul Fatah, a prominent campaigner in the 2011 uprising that eventually forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak to step down.
Abdul Fatah himself had been arrested for organizing an unlawful protest and attacking a police officer. He was given a sentence of 15 years in prison, but was released on bail in September in a trial. Abdul Fattah attended Sunday’s session, but made no comment.
Last year, Egyptian authorities issued a controversial law, giving police the right to ban street rallies deemed a threat to society’s peace.
Opponents say the law is aimed at gagging political dissidents. The government say it is necessary to end more than three years of unrest in the country.
