Egypt: Prison term for 3 convicted of ‘violent incidents’ in 2013

An Egyptian court sentenced three people to seven to ten years in prison today after convicting them of violence in the summer of 2013, a court source said.

The source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said that “the Criminal Court of Cairo sentenced two defendants to ten years in prison after finding them guilty of committing acts of violence in the case known as the “Second Maspero Events”.

He pointed out that “the same court also sentenced another defendant to seven years in jail, in the case known in the media as “storming the Nasser city police station”, east of Cairo.”

Under Egyptian law, the two verdicts handed down today are preliminary and can be appealed before the Court of Cassation, the country’s highest appeals court, within 60 days.

The case, known as the “Second Maspero Events” dates back to July 2013 when a demonstration in support of former President Mohamed Morsi, the country’s first democratically elected president, took place after he was ousted in a military coup earlier in the month.

Read: Egyptian court sentences 14 for football stadium stampede

The other case dates back to August 2013, after the Egyptian security forces disbanded Rabaa Al-Adawiya and Al-Nahda Squares.

The Egyptian prosecution accused the defendants of “gathering, using force, assaulting public and private facilities and assaulting citizens” amongst the other charges. The defendants deny the charges.