By Marine Weitzmann
CAIRO: Al Manshiya Court sentenced activist Hassan Mustafa to six months in prison and LE 2,000 fine on Tuesday for charges of assaulting a policeman on July 15, Mustafa told Daily News Egypt.
On July 10, Mustafa, a member of the National Association for Change and a former member of the Kefaya Movement for Change, along with a group of almost 15 activists went to the police station of Sidi Gaber in Alexandria to demonstrate against Khaled Saeid’s case, a 28-year-old man who was allegedly beaten to death by two policemen.
“We were sitting in the street in front of the police station, and then policemen came … and started to beat us. They said we attacked the police station. One of them was Ahmed Osman, the one who gave the order to kill Khaled Saeid. This went on all night.”
After his release, he went to the Al-Manshiya Court on July 15 for tests to prove the physical assault by the police. There, he was caught by a policeman who accused him of violence, Mustafa said.
“I was sentenced to 6 months in jail and LE 2,000 LE for assaulting a policeman. I paid it, but I will appeal the decision on Oct. 10.” Mustafa said he already paid LE 1,000 to suspend the sentence.
“If I go to [prison], I will do the same again even after 6 months [of imprisonment]. This is my right, and we are in our country. … A lot of people support me in Alexandria, my family, a lot of lawyers, my employer.
“I’m sure they will make the jail hard for us, to punish us. But this is a price we have to pay, and we will pay,” he said.
Mustafa has been facing similar cases since 2008, the most recent of which related to his participation in a May 25 protest against the extension of the emergency law. Though the case was shelved, it was used against him during the recent one. –Additional reporting by Marwa Al-A’sar.
