6 April Youth Movement activist and founder of the ‘revolutionary’ Facebook group “Green Wave”, Karam Zakareya, was acquitted of charges relating to promotion of anti-government protests Tuesday.
Zakareya was first arrested last December from his house, and accused of promoting anti-government protests through the social media account. According to his first defence lawyer Malek Adly, the suspect had only participated in “liking the Facebook page”.
In February, Zakareya was sentenced to three months in prison and given an EGP 20,000 fine. Defence lawyer Anas Sayed took over the case and appealed the verdict. “In May, the case was adjourned to hear the court’s final decision,” he told Daily News Egypt.
Sayed explained that the police tracked down the IP address of a Facebook member of the “Green Wave”, who eventually led them to Zakareya. Sayed admitted that Zakareya was amid the initial founders of the page.
There were approximately 24,000 recorded followers of the page by January 2015, with the number currently at 23,000 “Facebook likes”.
6 April, banned by Egyptian authorities, constantly faces security pursuit and pressure amid ongoing accusations to the group of having Muslim Brotherhood ties.
