CAIRO: An appeals court in Egypt yesterday acquitted 112 people convicted of holding an illegal protest on the third anniversary of the 2011 revolt that toppled Hosni Mubarak, judicial sources said.
The defendants, including supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Mursi, were among 1,079 people arrested nationwide on January 25 when security forces cracked down on illegal demonstrations.
Clashes between protesters and police that day resulted in the deaths of 49 people. A lower court originally sentenced the 112 to a year in jail after finding them guilty of violating the protest law, illegal assembly, rioting, inciting violence, blocking roads, assaulting police officers and vandalising public and private property.
Adopted last November, the law prohibits all but police-sanctioned protests as part of a government attempt to restrict demonstrations.
In the past few weeks the authorities have released secular activists including Alaa Abdel Fattah and Mahienour El Massry, and also many students who were detained last year over “violent protests”. Abdel Fattah and Massry were among those who campaigned against Mubarak during the 2011 revolt.
In a separate case, 12 students were jailed for four years and each fined 100,000 Egyptian pounds (about $13,960) for taking part in an illegal protest.
AFP
