Egypt court slaps 10 regime opponents with jail terms

By Sayed Fathi

CAIRO

An Egyptian court on Wednesday slapped ten opponents of the regime with between 10 and 15 years each in prison for “acts of violence” that occurred in the Giza province (a part of Greater Cairo) in 2014.

According to an unnamed judicial source quoted in the local media, the Giza Criminal Court sentenced Mohammed Ibrahim Mohammed Abdul Hamid (in absentia) to 15 years behind bars.

Nine others were sentenced to 10 years each in prison after being convicted, along with Abdul Hamid, of “using force against police officers," the source said.

The case dates back to December 2014, when Egyptians opposed to the country’s 2013 military coup -- led by then-defense minister (now president) Abdel-Fattah al-Sisi -- staged an anti-regime demonstration in Giza’s restive Kirdasa district.

A single defendant in the case was acquitted due to a lack of evidence, the same source said, adding that Tuesday’s raft of sentences remained subject to appeal before the Court of Cassation, Egypt’s highest appellate court.

In mid-2013, Mohamed Morsi, Egypt’s first freely-elected president, was ousted in a bloody military coup. Soon afterward, Egypt’s post-coup authorities criminalized “unauthorized” street protests.

In the more than four years since, thousands of people -- some say tens of thousands -- have been thrown behind bars on what they describe as trumped-up charges.