Cairo’s Criminal Court, headed by notorious Judge Nagy Shehata, sentenced three defendants of the ”Funeral detainees case” to 10-year prison sentences in absentia on Saturday.
The prison sentences against the defendants were mitigated to 10 years in the first session of their retrial. Previously the court had given them life sentences.
The defendants say they will also appeal Saturday’s court ruling.
The defendants are Ramy Sayed, Ahmed Taha Al-Sayed, Abdel Mageed Sayed. All three are affiliated to the 6 April Youth Movement. They are accused of possessing fireworks, arranging mass gatherings, unlicensed protesting, spreading false information, harming the country’s stability and public interests.
The three defendants were arrested along with seven others while heading to the funeral of deceased colleague Ahmed Al-Masry.
Several members of the movement are serving harsh prison sentences. The movement was involved in clashes against the Interior Ministry during several prominent political events that took place over the past five years. It was one of the movements that participated in the 25 January revolution that led to the overthrow of former president Hosni Mubarak.
The movement activities were banned by the court in April 2014, due to accusations of distorting of Egypt’s image and espionage for foreign countries.
