Cairo: An Egyptian court on Monday sentenced prominent pro-democracy activist and blogger, Ala’a Abdul Fattah, to five years in prison with labour for holding an illegal protest in a case that has triggered local and foreign criticisms.
The Cairo Criminal Court convicted Abdul Fattah of staging an unauthorized violent demonstration outside the parliament building in Cairo in late 2013 to protest a disputed law that bans street rallies without governmental approval.
Abdul Fattah, 33, was also ordered to pay a fine of 100,000 Egyptian pounds (around Dh50,000).
The court handed down a three-year jail term each to 21 other defendants in the same case. They were also ordered to pay a fine of LE100,000 each. Three accused tried in absentia were jailed for 15 years.
They were all charged with attacking policemen, blocking roads and vandalising public and private property.
Upon hearing the sentences, families of the defendants looked shocked with some of them bursting into tears.
Activists, who were in the courtroom in solidarity with the defendants, chanted anti-government slogans. “Down with injustice. Long live the revolutionaries,” they shouted as they flashed the V-sign in support of the defendants locked in a cage.
In June last year, another court jailed all the 25 defendants to 15 years each. The ruling was later squashed on appeal and a retrial was ordered for them.
Abdul Fattah is one of the young activists, who spearheaded the 2011 popular revolt that forced long-time president Hosni Mubarak out of power.
Several secular pro-democracy campaigners have been arrested since July 2013 when the army deposed president Mohammad Mursi of the Muslim Brotherhood, a crackdown that has mainly targeted Islamists.
Months later, authorities issued a law, which gives police the power to block planned street protests if they are deemed a threat to security.
Critics have condemned the law as aimed at gagging political dissent. The government has repeatedly rejected calls for scrapping the law, saying it is necessary for re-establishing stability in the country.
