An Egyptian court sentenced leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah to 15 years in jail yesterday for violating a protest law and on other charges, his lawyer said, a move that outraged human rights groups.
Abdel Fattah, 33, became a symbol of the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak through his leading role in the protests and on social media. Twenty-four other people were also sentenced to 15 years in jail on similar charges.
The ruling came three days after former army chief Abdel Fattah al-Sisi was inaugurated as President, nearly a year after he toppled the country’s first freely elected leader, Mohamed Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood.
Since Morsi’s fall, security forces have killed hundreds of Brotherhood supporters and arrested thousands of others.
They have also rounded up secular activists like Abdel Fattah, raising concerns the authorities are turning the clock back to the Mubarak era when any form of dissent was risky.
The protest law passed last year heightened fears about the future of political freedoms in Egypt. The law, which rights groups say is deeply repressive, gives the Interior Ministry the right to ban any meeting of more than 10 people in a public place.
Abdel Fattah was ordered arrested over accusations he called protests against provisions in a new Constitution that allow civilians to be tried in military courts.
He had been out of jail on bail, but he was detained following the judge’s ruling, according tosecurity sources.
His sister Mona Seif wrote on her Facebook page that authorities had stopped the defendants attending the trial, which in this case under Egyptian law meant that they be given the maximum possible sentence and retried if they surrendered themselves.
His father, lawyer Ahmed Seif el-Islam, who was also the head of his legal team, called the proceedings a “trap” to arrest his son and other defendants and to force a retrial with them in prison instead of free.
Western allies have voiced concerns about human rights abuses in Egypt but have not taken strong measures in protest.
“In today’s verdict, the judiciary has shown that it regards the assembly law as a carte blanche to criminalise peaceful dissent,” Human Rights Watch said in a statement.
“It’s a further message that protest is not welcome in the new Egypt.”
Activist Asmaa Mahfouz expressed alarm over yesterday’s prison sentences.
“Fifteen years for protesting? What about those who killed? Those who steal the money of the poor? Those who raped girls in the square?,” she asked on Twitter.
“There will never be a state as long as this goes on.”