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Court overturns sentences of activists after ‘riots’ in Egypt

October 17, 2016 at 10:10 am

Egypt’s Court of Cassation overturned the sentences of 32 activists on Saturday, most of whom are students detained over “riots” in 2014, Anadolu has reported. They will instead be prosecuted again in a different court for the affray which took place at Al-Azhar University in January 2014.

The court dealt with the applications in two sessions. In the first case, lawyer Fawzi Nasser said that the Cairo court accepted the appeals against the detention of 24 opposition activists and overturned their sentences of between three and five years in prison.

In the other session, the Court of Cassation also nullified the detention of eight students from Al-Azhar University in Cairo, saying that they had to be re-prosecuted over the same “riots”.

According to a legal source, all of the defendants will be re-tried while they are being held in prison.

Following the 2013 coup against the first freely-elected President of Egypt, Mohamed Morsi, the military authorities outlawed all anti-government protests and demonstrations. They also banned the Muslim Brotherhood and accused it of organising or supporting anti-government activities.

In the post-coup crackdown on the movement, the authorities killed dozens of its members and leaders in protests and during arrest campaigns. Hundreds more were arrested and the Brotherhood’s assets and associated organisations have been seized and closed down.