Qasr al-Nil Misdemeanor Court upheld on Monday the three-year sentence issued against activists Ahmed Maher, Ahmed Douma and Mohamed Adel over breaking the protest law.
The court rejected the appeal submitted by the suspects against the imprisonment sentence.
The suspects’ defense withdrew in the trial session before the last rejecting the attacks against the suspects while being transferred to the court.
Court heard testimony of Lieutenant Colonel Mansour al-Gammal, chief of Abdeen Court’s guard, who testified that the defendants attacked the security troops. However, the defense said they will submit new evidence to the court including videos of the violence that took place outside the court.
Abdeen Misdemeanor Court earlier sentenced the three activists to three years in prison and fined them LE50,000 for attacking security in front of Abdeen Court late 2013 and damaging public and private properties as well as injuring security personnel.
The April 6 Movement stepped up activities following the controversial protest law passed by the interim government restricting freedom of assembly by requiring protests to receive prior authorization from the Interior Ministry.
The UN, EU and United States all criticized the law, stressing that fundamental human rights must be respected in the crucial time of governmental transition.
Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Badr Abdel Aaty quickly lashed back at the criticsim. “It’s unacceptable that any country intervene within local Egyptian affairs,” he said. “It’s normal that all countries, especially major ones, pay attention to the development of a country like Egypt, but this does not permit the violation of certain lines or comment on decisions related to local issues.”
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
