Fifteen rights groups expressed “concern” regarding the Shura Council trial verdict issued Monday on prominent activist Alaa Abdel Fattah and others. The groups stressed that “the danger that violations on fair trials” impose on freedoms forms a “threat” on Egypt’s human rights system.
In the retrial held on Monday, Abdel Fattah and Ahmed Abdel Rahman both received five-year sentences and an EGP 100,000 fine each. The remaining 23 activists involved in the case were given three-year sentences, an EGP 100,000 fine and put under surveillance.
The defendants were charged with assaulting the police, illegal protesting, illegal assembly, and damaging public property among other charges.
The statement read that “these charges are hardly uncommon” in a case involving exercising the right of peaceful demonstration.
All 25 defendants were initially sentenced in absentia in June to 15 years in prison, in addition to an EGP 100,000 fine.
The undersigned groups include: Cairo Institute for Human Rights Studies, Association of Freedom of Thought and Expression, Egyptian Center for Economic and Social Rights and El-Nadeem Center for Rehabilitation of Victims of Violence and Torture.