Egypt jails blogger for five years
AN EGYPTIAN court has sentenced a prominent activist to five years in jail for violating a law that seeks to curtail demonstrations, part of one of the toughest crackdowns on dissent in the country’s history.
After the verdict was read out, chants of “down, down with military rule” rang out from supporters of Alaa Abdel Fattah crowded into the courtroom.
Abdel Fattah was a leading secular figure in the 2011 revolt that toppled autocrat Hosni Mubarak.
He was first sentenced on the anti-demonstration charge, along with 24 co-defendants, to 15 years in absentia before a retrial was ordered.
The blogger and software engineer has been in and out of jail on various charges since veteran leader Mr Mubarak’s fall.
He is one of several wellknown activists to have been jailed since the army overthrew Islamist President Mohamed Mursi in mid-2013.
The verdicts saw one other defendant, Ahmed Abdulrahman, also sentenced to five years, 18 defendants to three years, and others tried in absentia to 15 years.
Earlier, the same court adjourned to Sunday, March 8 the trial of two Al Jazeera television journalists charged with aiding a terrorist organisation – a reference to Mr Mursi’s since banned Muslim Brotherhood.
Abdulrahman’s lawyer, Mohammed Abdelaziz, said his client would appeal the “unjust” verdict. Khaled Dawoud, spokesman for the opposition Dostour Party, said those responsible for the murder of hundreds of people during the Mubarak era were still at liberty.
“Not a single official from the Mubarak regime has been sentenced, not a single police officer,” he said.
“We have young Egyptians dying everyday and not a single person gets sentenced except those who believe in peaceful protest.”
In January, Egypt’s high court overturned the only remaining conviction against Mr Mubarak.