By Mai Shams El-Din
CAIRO: The military prosecution handed down one-year suspended sentences to 45 protesters arrested during the military police crackdown on a protest in front of the Israeli embassy commemorating the Palestinian Nakba last week.
Some 136 protesters were tried before a military court for vandalizing public property, spreading chaos, disturbing the public, blocking the street, attempting to storm the embassy and holding banners condemning the “Zionist entity”, which threatens security.
Ten of those arrested were handed down six-month suspended sentences while the rest received one-year suspended sentences.
Lawyer and activist Ragia Omran told Daily News Egypt that the verdicts will be appealed.
“Those protesters are innocent and should not be found guilty in the first place,” said Omran. “This is an unfair court ruling that we have to appeal.”
The ruling Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) said it will give suspended sentences to 120 protesters detained during the crackdown on Tahrir Square protesters on March 9.
Amnesty International released a report on Thursday urging authorities to provide justice to the victims of violence during the revolution.
“The Egyptian authorities must provide justice to all of the victims of violent repression that took place during mass anti-government protests earlier this year,” said the report.
Rights activist and member of No to Military Trials for Civilians, Mona Seif, told DNE earlier that there is a shift in SCAF’s attitude towards protesters.
“Unlike what happened with protesters of March 9 and April 9 and 12, who got three to five-year sentences, protesters now are getting suspended sentences,” said Seif.
“But it is hard to predict the reactions of the SCAF; I think this shift is the result of the continuous reports issued by international human rights organizations condemning military trials, and also to halt the usual calls for Friday million man marches,” she said.
