Egypt: Court sentences Jan. revolution icon Alaa Abdel Fattah to 5 years in prison

Egyptian activist and January Revolution icon Alaa Abdel Fattah sentenced to 5 years in prison, says judicial source

Prominent Egyptian activist Alaa Abdel Fattah was sentenced to five years in prison on Monday, according to a judicial source, after he had been tried on charges of spreading fake news.

Also, the blogger Mohamed Ibrahim and lawyer Mohamed El-Baqer, who faced the same charges, were sentenced to four years. The three have been detained since September 2019.

Abdel Fattah, a leading activist and of the January 2011 Revolution that toppled late president Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power, had previously been imprisoned for five years in 2014 and released in 2019. Abdel Fattah’s family have complained about the conditions of his detention.

“He is denied access to books, a radio, a watch, and he is banned from walking (outside his prison cell). He does not leave his prison cell at all except of when we visit him or if he is going to prosecution or court,” Abdel Fattah’s mother Leila Soueif said before the hearing.

Abdel Fattah, his lawyer Mohamed al-Baqer and the blogger Mohamed Ibrahim “Oxygen” were convicted of “broadcasting false news” in their trial in Cairo.

“Alaa was sentenced to five years, Baqer four years and Mohamed Oxygen four years,” his sister Mona Seif said

on Twitter.

“The judge was too cowardly to even inform us,” she said after the sentencing at the State Security Misdemeanors Court in the capital.

A judicial source, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed the verdict and sentencing to AFP.

Rulings in the court cannot be appealed. They require final approval by Abdel Fattah al-Sisi.

Abdel Fattah, a computer programmer, blogger and high-profile activist who mobilised youths in the 2011 uprising that unseated autocrat Hosni Mubarak, had been in pre-trial detention since September 2019.

Pre-trial detention can last up to two years under Egyptian law, but in practice detainees are often kept waiting behind bars longer.

Abdel Fattah was arrested in the wake of rare night-time protests prompted by an exiled construction contractor calling for the removal of President Sisi on claims of corruption.

Baqer and Ibrahim were also detained in a massive crackdown.

Abdel Fattah has spent most of the past decade in jail.

“He is denied access to books, a radio, a watch, and he is banned from walking (outside his prison cell). He does not leave his prison cell at all except of when we visit him or if he is going to prosecution or court,” Abdel Fattah’s mother Leila Soueif said before the hearing.

Abdel Fattah’s sister, Sanaa Seif, was sentenced to a year and a half in prison in March on similar charges after calling for prisoners to be freed during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Germany had called for a ‘fair trial’, release of dissidents

Ahead of the trial, Egypt’s foreign ministry lambasted the German government on Saturday for a statement calling for a “fair trial” and the release of the three dissidents.

Cairo described the German foreign ministry’s release as “a blatant and unjustified meddling in Egyptian internal affairs”.

U.S. State Department spokesperson Ned Price said Washington was “disappointed” by the verdicts and that journalists and human rights defenders should be able to exercise their freedom of expression without facing criminal penalties.

The administration of President Joe Biden in September said it would withhold $130 million worth of military aid to Egypt until Cairo takes specific steps related to human rights, but Price on Monday declined to say whether additional aid could be withheld.

“We’ve emphasized to the Egyptian government that our bilateral relationship is strengthened by improving respect for human rights and we will continue to engage the Egyptian government to promote freedom of expression and other universal human rights,” Price said.

Rights groups say there are some 60,000 political prisoners in Egypt facing brutal, unhygienic conditions and overcrowded cells.

In a 2019 interview with the show 60 Minutes on broadcaster CBS, Sisi said there were no political prisoners in Egypt.

Abdel Fattah sentence shows Egyptian authorities intent on continuing crackdown on dissent, Amnesty researcher says

Since 2013, when then-army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi ousted the democratically elected President Mohamed Morsi, there has been a crackdown on political dissent in Egypt, drawing criticism from human rights groups, who confirm tens of thousands of people have been jailed.

Since his military coup in 2013, Sisi has overseen a sweeping crackdown on dissent. Those jailed for criticizing the political status quo have included academics, journalists, lawyers, activists, comedians, Islamists, presidential candidates and MPs.