More Prison Sentences, Fines Against Egypt’s Prominent Activists, Lawyers

A Cairo criminal court has fined leading Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to EGP 30,000 in the case of insulting the judiciary.

Politician Amr Hamzawy, TV presenter Tawfik Okasha, Al-Wafd Party member Mahmoud al-Sakka and lawyer Amir Salem were sentenced to EGP 30,000 fine, according to Mada Masr referencing lawyer Khaled Ali.

The other 20 defendants in the same case have been sentenced to three years in prison.

In November, the Court of Cassation issued a final verdict ruling that Abdel Fattah stays in prison until the end of the 5-year imprisonment sentence in the case known as “Shura Council events”.

Abdel Fattah has served three and a half years; he is to spend 1.5 years in prison in addition to 5 years of probation and a fine worth of EGP 100,000 in the “Shura Council events” case.

He has been charged with organizing a demonstration without a license before the Shura Council in November 2013, provoking riots, assaulting police officers and blocking roads. Abdel Fattah, a software engineer, blogger and an activist, is a prominent figure in the 25 January revolution toppling the regime of Hosni Mubarak.

Also, former president Mohamed Morsi has been sentenced to three years in prison in addition to a fine reaching EGP 2 million on charges of insulting the judiciary, according to Reuters.

More trials have taken place on 30 December, an Alexandria misdemeanors court sentenced human rights lawyer and defender Mahinour al-Masry to two years in prison on charges related to protests against the maritime border agreement of two Red Sea islands, Tiran and Sanafir.

Bread and Freedom Party member Moatasem Medhat has also been sentenced to two years in prison the same charges. Three other members of the Bread and Freedom Party, Asmaa Naeem, Zeyad Aboul Fadl and Walid al-Emary, a member of the Dostour Party, have been sentenced to three years in absentia in the same case