(AFP File Photo\ Khaled Desouki)
The Cairo Criminal Court postponed on Saturday political activist Ahmed Douma’s trial for his participation in the 2011 Cabinet clashes to 18 October, despite his requests to be hospitalised.
Douma suffered internal bleeding in an ambulance on Saturday, with lawyer Khaled Ali later requesting a medical check-up, said Freedom for the Brave. Douma has been on a hunger strike for over a month to protest his imprisonment under the controversial protest law.
Douma, along with 268 other defendants on the case, are facing charges of attacking the cabinet building and security personnel as well as burning the Scientific Institute in Cairo in 2011.
The 2011 Cabinet clashes occurred after demonstrators organised a sit-in at the Cabinet headquarters protesting the appointment of Kamal El-Ganzoury as Prime Minister by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF). The military police attempted to disperse the sit-in, resulting in deadly violence which lasted for four days.
Douma was sentenced on 22 December to three years’ hard labour and fined EGP 50,000. He was sentenced alongside Ahmed Maher, co-founder of the 6 April Youth Movement, and Mohamed Adel, a co-founder and member of 6 April’s political bureau.
They were convicted of violating the Protest Law, rioting, “thuggery”, using violence against Abdeen Courthouse security personnel and possessing melee weapons.
