Thursday, September 18, 2014

Egypt: 25 ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL, THREE RELEASED ON BAIL - Urgent Actions

UA 322/1325 Egypt: ACTIVISTS ON TRIAL, THREE RELEASED ON BAIL 

     Leading activist and blogger Alaa Abd El Fattah, and activists Mohamed Abdel Rahman and Wael Mohamed Metwally were released on bail in the evening of 15 September 2014. Lawyers told Amnesty International that the court ordered the release of the three men on bail of 5,000 EGP (US$700.00). Lawyers added that the court did not have valid reason to keep the three men jailed. The other 22 defendants are out of prison and they are all facing the same charges.
     By the end of the court session, the court panel recused itself as that very same panel had already sentenced the 25 defendants, in their absence, to 15 years in prison in June. The case is now referred to the Court of Appeal which will assign it to another criminal court.
     All 25 defendants are charged for participating in an unauthorized protest outside the Shura Council in November 2013 and a range of trumped-up charges, including “assaulting the security forces”, “stealing a police radio”, “cutting off access to roads” and “interrupting the work of national institutions”. 
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