The Qasr Al-Nil Misdemeanour Court scheduled on Tuesday the final verdict to be issued on 14 June in the case involving the protests against the demarcation deal over Tiran and Sanafir islands.
Fifty-one have been arrested from public spaces and private homes and charged with illegal protesting and inciting protests. Two waves of anti-government protests that took place on 15 and 25 April were prompted by the recent maritime demarcation deal between Egypt and Saudi Arabia during King Salman bin Abdulaziz Al-Saud’s visit to Cairo in early April. The decision would see Tiran and Sanafir islands sovereignty transferred to Saudi Arabia.
Ahmed Osman, one of the defendant’s lawyers, told Daily News Egypt that today’s session included the judicial pleading from the defence’s side. He added that the defence lawyers earlier requested to transcribe the video footage of the streets near where the protests took place and during the time of the defendants’ arrest to see if there are any proven links that they participated in the protests.
The case includes 28 detained defendants and 23 others who were released.
More than 100 people already received heavy fines of up to EGP 100,000 in other cases related to the same incident. The three other cases include several minors, who are not in police custody but are facing trial.
Prominent human rights lawyer Malek Adly, who was one of the vocal supporters of the protests against the demarcation deal, was also arrested in early May on charges of spreading false news and attempting to overthrow the regime.
