Egypt: Unprecedented jail terms against coup opponents

Egypt’s Minya court handed down unprecedented lengthy jail terms, between 57 and 88 years, against 11 anti-coup protesters on Sunday.

The same judge who issued today’s verdicts, Saieed Sabrah, is the one who sentenced 529 protesters to death last month.

According to Khaled Al-Koumi, head of the defence team, “the Menya criminal court sentenced 2 protesters to 88 years in prison, one protester to 57 years, and 8 others to 63 years.”

The defendants were convicted of “resisting authorities and assaulting police and army forces.”

Human rights lawyer Ahmed Mefreh slammed the court rulings as “a clear violation of the law and basic human rights.” Mefreh added that the verdicts are “the first of their kind in the history of Egyptian judiciary,” describing the defendants as “political prisoners.”