Court reduces sentence against Al-Azhar students from 17 years in prison to two years

The Gamaleya Misdemeanor Court of Appeal accepted the request of ten students to appeal their 17-year sentence with bail set at 64,000 Egyptian pounds (around $8,900) in the case known as “the riots” of Al-Azhar. The court reduced their sentence to two years in prison.

Al-Rassd news website reported that the defendants attended the Cairo court session under high security measures. They were handcuffed and placed inside the defendants’ cage.

During the hearing the students affirmed that they are innocent of the charges directed at them and described the 17-year sentence as a “politicised” verdict aiming to deter them from any activism against the 3 July coup that deposed Egypt’s first democratically elected president, Mohamed Morsi.

In a press statement, one of the defendants said that he had challenged the head of the prosecution to show him a photo or a video proving the charges against him. After the verdict was read, the students declared their faith in God.