(AFP PHOTO / KHALED DESOUKI)
The Cairo Criminal Court adjourned the verdict of the Shura Council appeal to 23 November, with the defendants to remain in custody.
The defendants were accused of violating the Protest Law – issued by then-interim president Adly Mansour in November 2013 – after protesting outside the Shura Council (the upper house of the parliament). They were accordingly sentenced to 15 years, handed an EGP 100,000 fine and put under surveillance for a period of five years.
The court listened to the prosecution, which showcased several videos from the incident, as covered by CBC TV channel. The defendants’ lawyers proposed several recommendations to the court, including issuing a report from the three mobile companies on the whereabouts of defendant Alaa Abdel Fattah on the day of the incident between 4-7pm, to include it in the case files.
Abdel Fattah has been arrested and imprisoned under every consecutive Egyptian government from Mubarak to Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi and has already been imprisoned three times under the government of President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi.
Meanwhile, the Alexandria Misdemeanour Court postponed the verdict of the Raml A police station case to 8 December to continue listening to evidence from the defendants’ lawyers .
The case includes 10 activists and lawyers who are accused of attempting to break into the Raml A police station in Alexandria, including prominent lawyer Mahienour El-Massry.
During the hearing on Monday, the court summoned Alexandria security director to hear his testimony and two lawyers who were eyewitnesses for the event.
Ranwa Youssef, member of Revolutionary Socialists group in Alexandria and one of the hearing attendees said: “The eyewitnesses denied the counts against the defendants and told the court that the defendants did not vandalise the police station or riot.”
In March, 2013 a group of lawyers started a sit-in in front of the Raml A police station in Alexandria demanding an official apology from the interior ministry regarding the injury of their fellow lawyer at the hands of police personnel. The lawyers were then arrested and accused of attempting to break into the police station.
