15-year old Mariyah...the youngest detainee in Egyptian prisons

The alliance supporting the elected Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi considered the verdict issued on Thursday against a 15-year old student, sentencing her to one year in prison, as “an example of the oppression and injustice executed by the military coup in the name of the law.”

The Juvenile Court in the Dakahlia governorate (in the Nile Delta) issued a verdict on Thursday sentencing the 15-year old student, Mariyah Al-Metwalli Samaha, to a year in prison and a fine of EGP 20,000 (about $2,800) on charges of possession of flyers with the Rabaa sign during her participation in a demonstration supporting President Morsi.

The prosecution charged her with inciting riot, being a member of a banned group (the Muslim Brotherhood), and demonstrating without a permit. Her case was transferred to the juvenile court, according to legal sources.

After the verdict was issued, Mariyah became the youngest Egyptian female sentenced to prison due to her participation in protests opposing the military authorities.

In a statement issued by the Alliance, it described the verdict against the high school student as harsh and “a disgrace to the Egyptian judiciary”, adding that “such sentences will only increase the Egyptian people’s determination to defeat the coup.”

According to legal sources, the verdict issued by the juvenile court in Dakahlia is subject to appeal, which the girl’s lawyer is expected to do.

It is worth noting that an Egyptian court in the city of Alexandria had already issued a ruling sentencing 14 girls supporting Morsi to 11 years and one month of imprisonment last November, as well as sending seven other girls to juvenile detention due to the fact that they were under the legal age of 18, on charges that, according to observers and activists, are baseless.

At the time, the ruling sparked criticism from international and local human rights organisations before the ruling was vetoed last December and reduced from 11 years to a suspended one year term, while the seven minors were released.