By Jake Lippincott
On Saturday the Court for Urgent Matters in Cairo postponed a trial which seeks to prohibit the activities of the pro-democracy group 6 April Movement until 28 April. The trial stems from a lawsuit brought against the group accusing them of hurting the image of Egypt and spying for foreign governments.
The 6 April Youth Movement was founded in 2008 after organising the largest wave of strikes in the history of Egypt in the industrial town of Mahalla. The group was heavily involved in the 2011 revolution against Mubarak. In 2013, 6 April was prominently involved in the massive protest movement leading up to the military backed ouster of former president Mohamed Morsi.
While 6 April supported Morsi’s overthrow by the military, they later joined a growing coalition vocally opposed to both the military backed-interim government and a return to the Muslim Brotherhood-dominated government of Morsi.
In March, 6 April released a statement opposing the presidential aspirations of former defence minister Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi: “The defence minister running for the post of president of the republic would not benefit the divided nation and will not achieve the objectives of the revolution.”
The group has paid a heavy price for its opposition to the military and interim government. In December one of the group’s founders Ahmed Maher was arrested along with other prominent members on charges of violating Egypt’s newly approved protest laws.
On the 2014 anniversary of the 25 January Revolution, 6 April and allied groups held protests which, along with protests organised by the Muslim Brotherhood, were forcibly dispersed by security forces, killing at least 49 demonstrators and seeing several more arrested.
