Court upholds 5-year sentence for Egyptian Activist

CAIRO – 8 November 2017: Egypt’s Court of Cassation upheld a five-year prison sentence on Wednesday and an LE 100,000 fine for Egyptian political activist Alaa Abdel Fatah.

Abdel Fatah is charged in the case known as the “Shura Council events,” according to judicial sources. The sources also stated that the verdict is final and cannot be appealed.

Abdel Fatah is charged with organizing a protest without a license in front of the Shura Council in November 2013, provoking riots, assaulting police officers and damaging public property.

Twenty-four other defendants in the case were also sentenced, but were all released upon receiving a presidential pardon. Abdel Fatah was the only defendant who was not pardoned.

In 2014, the activist was initially sentenced to a 15-year sentence in prison. The sentence was reduced to five years after a retrial in February 2015. Abdel Fatah has already served three and a half years of his sentence.

According to the court’s verdict, Abdel Fatah will serve one and a half more years remaining of his 5-year sentence, an additional five years on probation and an LE 100,000 fine.

Abdel Fatah is a software engineer, blogger and activist, he was one of the prominent faces in the Egyptian 2011 revolution.