Egypt: young protesters against anti-law get prison sentence of two years

Yara Sallam

 An Egyptian appeals court reduced the jail terms on Sunday for 23 young activists convicted of violating a law banning protests without a permit, judicial sources said.
The arrest of the activists in June while they demonstrated against the law which tightly restricts protests was condemned by rights groups as a reflection of an increasingly repressive political climate in Egypt.
Mass protests led to the ousting of autocrat Hosni Mubarak in 2011 and were used to express discontent with Islamist President Mohamed Mursi, who was toppled by the army last year.
Human rights groups have called the charges against the activists baseless and decried the case as an example of "show-trials" based on scant evidence and intended to warn citizens against defying government policies.

"Though expected in the light of harsh and unfair sentences in similar cases, we are shocked and dismayed at how political and human rights activists are being punished in Egypt for peacefully expressing their views," said Khaled Mansour, executive director of the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights where one of the defendants, Yara Sallam, worked

 Sallam, a 28-year-old lawyer, was not participating in the demonstration according to eyewitnesses, but was rounded up nearby and put on trial.
Sanaa Abdel Fattah, a 20-year-old university student and the sister of leading activist Alaa Abdel Fattah, was also among those arrested. On Sunday, their sentences were reduced from three years to two.