The Cairo Criminal Court on Sunday sentenced activist Sanaa Seif Abdel Fattah and 22 others to three years in prison for taking part in protests in June outside the Ettehadiya Presidential Palace that denounced the new protest law.
The controversial law, introduced under former interim president Adly Mansour, had raised ire among pro-democracy activists for imposing restrictions on the right to protest, requiring prior notification to authorities before holding protests and giving them the right to reject protest requests.
Sanaa’s brother, Alaa, a prominent democracy advocate opposed to the regime of former president Hosni Mubarak and all the governments that succeeded him, had received 15 years in prison over charges of violating the protest law during demonstrations outside the Shura Council late 2013. He was released on bail in September and is standing retrial.
In April, a court upheld a three-year sentence against three prominent activists, Ahmed Douma, Mohamed Adel and Ahmed Maher over the same charges.
Amnesty International called on Saturday for the release of the 22 activists.
“This show trial, based on highly questionable evidence, is the latest example of the Egyptian authorities’ determination to quash peaceful protest and stifle any form of dissent,” said Hassiba Hadj Sahraoui, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, speaking of the trial.
Edited translation from Al-Masry Al-Youm
