Egyptian activist Mahinour El-Masry re-arrested

A court in the Egyptian city of Alexandria yesterday ordered the arrest of human rights lawyer Mahinour El-Masry, during an appeal for a two-year sentence handed down to El-Masry and nine others in February.

El-Masry, who attended Monday’s court session, was detained by the police pending trial. The court has set 31 May as the date for a verdict in the appeal.

The defendants were accused of storming the Al-Raml police station in Alexandria and attacking its officers as well as torching the Muslim Brotherhood headquarters in March 2013.

In September 2014, the human rights lawyer and revolutionary socialist activist was released from jail, after having served four months of a six-month sentence for charges of “illegal protesting” during the Khaled Said murder retrial in December 2013.

During her four months in jail, before the sentence was suspended, El-Masry was awarded the 2014 Ludovic Trarieux Award for her contributions to the defence of human rights.