Alternative Africa

Top Menu

  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

Main Menu

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
Sign in / Join

Login

Welcome! Login in to your account
Lost your password?

Lost Password

Back to login
  • Home
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of Use
  • Contact Us

logo

Alternative Africa

  • Home
  • Arts & Culture
  • Business
  • Environment
  • Politics
  • Sports
  • Reports
    • Africa-Observers
      • Read Reports
      • Submit a story
  • MORE
    • Health
    • News Now
    • World
    • Technology
  • UK to cut aid to Nigeria, other African countries by more than 50%

  • All you need to know about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccine

  • Ghanaian footballer faces life jail over death of policeman

  • Ghana receives additional 50k doses of covid-19 vaccines from India

  • Confidence in covid-19 vaccines grows as medical doctor gets first jab in Nigeria

News Now
Home›News Now›Alaa Abdel Fattah: Egypt court upholds activist’s sentence

Alaa Abdel Fattah: Egypt court upholds activist’s sentence

By alternativeafrica
November 8, 2017
720
0
Share:
File photo showing Alaa Abdel Fattah in court in March 2015Image copyright AFP
Image caption Alaa Abdel Fattah – seen here in court in 2015 – is also on trial for allegedly insulting the judiciary

Egypt’s highest appeals court has upheld a five-year prison sentence for the blogger and pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, his family says.

They said the Court of Cassation had confirmed a verdict that the 35 year old broke a 2013 law banning protests and endangered the public interest.

Fellow activists condemned the ruling on social media.

Abdel Fattah has about 18 months left of his sentence, but is also on trial for allegedly insulting the judiciary.

He and at least 23 other defendants, including politicians Amr Hamzawy and Essam Sultan, face up to four years in prison if they are found guilty. A verdict is expected in December.

Abdel Fattah rose to prominence during the 2011 uprising against President Hosni Mubarak.

He subsequently campaigned against the military council that ruled Egypt for 17 months after Mr Mubarak’s resignation and the ousting of his successor, Mohammed Morsi.

After Morsi was overthrown by the military in 2013, Abdel Fattah opposed the sweeping crackdown on dissent launched by President Abdul Fattah al-Sisi.

Since then, the authorities have arrested or charged at least 60,000 people, forcibly disappeared hundreds for months at a time, handed down preliminary death sentences to hundreds more, and sent 15,000 civilians to military courts, according to Human Rights Watch.

Abel Fattah was among 25 people arrested on a range of charges stemming from their involvement in a peaceful protest in November 2013 outside the Shura Council building in Cairo by the group No to Military Trials for Civilians.

Image copyright AFP
Image caption Alaa Abdel Fattah was sentenced over his involvement in a protest in Cairo in November 2013

Police violently dispersed the demonstration, which took place two days after the government issued a law banning any gatherings of more than 10 people that were not approved by the interior ministry.

In June 2014, a court sentenced Abdel Fattah and his co-defendants in absentia to 15 years in prison and fined 100,000 Egyptian pounds ($5,665; £4,325).

Abdel Fattah’s sentence was reduced to five years after a retrial that ended in February 2015. The others, except for one man also found guilty of carrying a knife, were handed three-year terms.

President Sisi pardoned 18 of the protesters that October, but Abdel Fattah was not among them.

On Wednesday, Abdel Fattah’s aunt, the novelist Ahdaf Souief, said the Court of Cassation had “changed the terminology” of his sentence but upheld the term.

The court had also confirmed that he would face five years subject to probation measures that Amnesty International said would amount to a deprivation of liberty, she added.

“I’m sorry. Our hearts are with everyone who’s been following us and rooting for Alaa and justice. We stay together. #freeAlaa,” Ms Souief wrote on Twitter.

Human rights lawyer Mokhtar Mounir said: “The Court of Cassation is destroying the altar of justice and turning it into an arena for political revenge against opponents of the regime.”

SHARE ON:
TagsAfricaBreakingNews
Previous Article

Deposed Zimbabwe VP goes on exile

Next Article

Egypt state firm enters thriving mobile sector

0
Shares
  • 0
  • +
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0
  • 0

alternativeafrica

Related articles More from author

  • News NowWorld

    North Korea threat boosts bomb shelter sales in Japan

    September 12, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    TP Mazembe look to keep Confederation Cup defence alive

    October 21, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • News NowWorld

    Al Jazeera releases virtual reality project on Rohingya

    September 28, 2017
    By alternativeafrica
  • AfricaAfrikaTVNews Now

    Meet Ghanaian Sam Okyere, the most famous black man rocking South Korea’

    October 27, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • News Now

    Abiy Ahmed becomes Ethiopia’s prime minister

    April 5, 2018
    By alternativeafrica
  • BusinessNews Now

    A brighter year for mining?

    January 26, 2018
    By alternativeafrica

Leave a reply Cancel reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You might be interested

  • BusinessNews Now

    Africa welcomes renewables revolution

  • AfricaHealthNews Now

    Nigeria earmarks $26m for COVID-19 Vaccines, floats vaccine company

  • AfricaBusinessNews Now

    Nigeria: Lagos launches N4bn funding initiative for women entrepreneurs

Timeline

  • March 6, 2021

    UK to cut aid to Nigeria, other African countries by more than 50%

  • March 6, 2021

    All you need to know about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccine

  • March 6, 2021

    Ghanaian footballer faces life jail over death of policeman

  • March 5, 2021

    Ghana receives additional 50k doses of covid-19 vaccines from India

  • March 5, 2021

    Confidence in covid-19 vaccines grows as medical doctor gets first jab in Nigeria

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Morocco begins regional integration by connecting Casablanca Airport with High Speed Train

    By alternativeafrica
    January 4, 2020
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Nigeria: 32,000 capacity Lagos rice mill to start production in 2020

    By alternativeafrica
    December 23, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack followed a ...
AlternativeAfrica.com is an independent Pan African News Website dedicated primarily to influencing the negative narratives about Africa. We hope to do this by focusing and showcasing the many developmental strides sweeping across the continent.

Read more >>>

Contact Info

  • info@alternativeafrica.com
  • Recent

  • Popular

  • Comments

  • UK to cut aid to Nigeria, other African countries by more than 50%

    By alternativeafrica
    March 6, 2021
  • All you need to know about the side effects of COVID-19 vaccine

    By alternativeafrica
    March 6, 2021
  • Ghanaian footballer faces life jail over death of policeman

    By alternativeafrica
    March 6, 2021
  • Ghana receives additional 50k doses of covid-19 vaccines from India

    By alternativeafrica
    March 5, 2021
  • Lagos govt confirms first case of deadly coronavirus infection in Nigeria

    By alternativeafrica
    February 28, 2020
  • Keynote Address of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo at 2018 Oxford Africa Conference

    By PSJ Africa
    May 14, 2018
  • Macron in Ivory Coast to launch anti-terrorism academy

    By alternativeafrica
    December 21, 2019
  • Kenyan govt pressure Facebook for data on Kenyan users

    By alternativeafrica
    November 20, 2019
  • Ado zagi
    on
    January 12, 2021

    Nigeria: EFCC Academy to begin award of degree

    Diploma leave areply from
  • Ethiopia joins Africa's Artificial Intelligence revolution | Alternative Africa
    on
    October 2, 2020

    Spending on Artificial Intelligence Systems in Africa, Middle East to top $374 million in 2020

    […] Many African countries ...
  • The 5 most popular Africans 2020
    on
    September 25, 2020

    Celebrating Congolese doctor Jean-Jacques Muyembe, the man behind breakthrough of Ebola cure

    […] Dr. Jean-Jacques Muyembe ...
  • Millitants in Central Mali Set Jail Ablaze in Attack Killing Two | taktik(z) GDI (Government Defense ...
    on
    August 11, 2020

    Fifteen gendarmes killed in another attack on Mali camp

    […] attack fol­lowed a January ...

Photostream

    Follow us

    • Home
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Terms of Use
    • Contact Us
    © Copyright Alternative Africa 2019. All rights reserved.