Man in shock as 6-year-old son is given jail term in Egypt
Schoolboy charged with resisting authorities
When Abu Al Hassan Sabry got a phone call from his hometown in Qena in South Egypt, informing him that his six-year-old son Mohammad was sentenced to six months in jail, he thought they were kidding.
But when his cousins confirmed the news, a stunned Sabry left Aswan, also in South Egypt where he works, and returned to Qena, around 650 kilometres south of Cairo, to see what to do.
“My son is a little boy. Besides, he was not summoned to police investigations, or to the court. There must be something wrong,” the shocked father said. “The family and the whole village are shocked.”
The case dates back to November last year when a police force went to Mohammad’s village to arrest a wanted man, but locals reportedly attacked the police, injuring two of them.
Twenty-nine people, including the boy, were accused of assaulting the police and referred to prosecution.
The Qena Criminal Court later tried them in absentia. Last week, the court found 10 of the defendants, including Mohammad, guilty of resisting authorities and sentenced them to six months in prison each. The court acquitted the 10 others, according to Egyptian newspapers. The father plans to appeal the sentence.
So far, there has been no comment from authorities.