Thursday, February 5, 2015

Egyptian Activist Ahmed Douma and 229 Others Receive Life Sentence

2/5/2015

CAIRO – The Cairo Criminal Court sentenced on Wednesday Egyptian activist Ahmed Douma and 229 other defendants to life imprisonment for committing acts of violence in 2011.

Egypt’s official Middle East and North Africa news agency, MENA, mentioned that 39 other defendants were sentenced to 10 years in prison while all were fined with a total amount of 17 million Egyptian pounds (around $2.2 million) over charges of participating in riots that took place outside the Egyptian Cabinet’s headquarters in December 2011.

The proceedings of this mass trial, in which a total of 293 defendants were prosecuted, was divided into two parts: the Cairo Criminal Court issued its ruling against 269 adult defendants, while the Juvenile Court handled case documents for the other 24 minors who are accused of being involved in acts of violence that resulted in deaths and injuries.

All the defendants were charged with resisting authorities, assaulting governmental buildings, engaging in vandalism and damaging public and private property.

Similarly, they were accused of disrupting public services and possessing knives, Molotov cocktails, fireballs and drugs for personal consumption.

According to the official agency, the defendants were also charged with attempting to break into buildings, as well as damaging and burning ambulances and privately-owned vehicles.

Douma denied all accusations throughout his trial.

The activist, who was also imprisoned during former Islamist President Mohamed Morsi’s brief term, was sentenced to three years in prison last December for insulting judges at another trial.


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