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Thursday, February 5, 2015

#FreeDetainees : Another 229 protesters sentenced to life in jail

Earlier today Cairo Criminal court has sentenced 229 Pro-Revolutionary protesters or rather defendants to life in jail and to pay LE 17 million “$U.S 2.2 million”in the 2011 Cabinet HQ clashes trial. It also sentenced 39 minors to 10 years in jail. In Egypt’s penalty code the life sentence means 25 years in jail
This is a first degree sentence which means , there will be an appeal nevertheless it is a sentence that got a political impact in a very critical time. This is another message to the 25 January Non Islamist camp.
Now interestingly with a little math calculations we will find that the total of sentences issued today was 6140 years in jail for the 229 !! More than crazy.
The 229 defendants are accused of the following charges :
Torching the scientific institute in Cairo , assaulting armed force and police personnel, possessing bladed weapons and Molotov cocktails , attacking governmental buildings including the cabinet and the parliament. 
Now to refresh your memory here is a quick background about those awful days in December 2011. On December 16, 2011 military forces dispersed a three-weeks sit in demanding the rights of the martyrs at the Cabinet HQ by force. The dispersal resulted in protests and the protests resulted in extremely awful clashes between military forces and protesters. Not less than 18 people were killed and hundreds have been injured. Among those who who have been killed Sheikh Emad Effat who became an icon among the martyrs of the revolution. Amazingly the court did not investigation his murder or how the members of the armed forces attacked protesters from the root of the parliament and the cabinet despite the video and photo evidence on that. It is enough to remember that awful Blue Bra girl photo to know exactly who attacked who for real !!!!!!
Take an example of Hend Nafae , the activist against torture and military rule ; she was assaulted and yet the judge found her guilty of attacking army personnel. Here is Hend’s photo after being torture in December 2011.
Hend Nafae after being assaulted
Of course all the media attention is on one defendant : Prominent activist Ahmed Douma.  Douma who was imprisoned during Mubarak, SCAF, Morsi, Adly Mansour and now El-Sisi is already
Douma in court defiant by Mohamed El-Raay
serving 3 years in jail sentenced for illegal protesting when he joined the April 6 Youth co-founders Ahmed Maher and Mohamed Adel in a protest outside the supreme Court in Downtown Cairo in November 2013.
The Pro-regime supporters are happy that Douma has been convicted of torching the Scientific institute saying that the Nasserite activist admitted on TV that he did. Well I watched Douma’s interviews from 2011 and what he said that threw at security forces molotov cocktails like the other angry protesters denying that he torched the old building. Of course Douma was the darling of those supporters when he used to stand against the Muslim Brotherhood and Morsi.
Despite being the son of a leading MB member , Douma did not like the MB and he said it publicly. Of course his controversial tweets that he wanted to the see the MB dead does not make him popular among the Pro-Morsi supporters who seemed to be happy for today’s verdict despite there are other 229 protesters in the same case not to mention it is unjust case.
Today Douma was sentenced another 3 years for court contempt because he clapped his hands when Judge Nagy Shehata was reading the sentence. Douma also asked Shehata during the session if he was going to investigate the murder of Sheikh Emad Effat and Dr. Alaa Abdel Hady and the judge wondered why Douma spoke about that matter.

Shehata has already sentenced Douma another 3 years in jail for contempt of court when he asked him if he got a Facebook account in reference to that alleged Facebook account under the name of Nagy Shehata so the total years Douma will spend in jail will be nearly 30 years !!
Douma vs. Nagy Shehata "Heba El-Kholy" 
Yeah from couple of months ago a FB account allegedly for Nagy Shehata appeared full of personal photos and political views that show complete bias against the Pro-Revolutionaries and Muslim Brotherhood, a thing which makes you wonder about his neutrality when overseeing cases involving Pro-Revolutionary non-Islamists and Islamists alike.
Shehata denied having a Facebook account despite he expressed the same views about the revolution and Mohamed ElBaradei in an interview to Pro-Regime newspaper El-Watan. Already today the judge spoke with Pro-Mubarak/Pro-regime notorious Ahmed Moussa about the case on air on Pro-Mubarak TV channel Sada El-Balad.
Judge Nagy Shehata has become well known whether locally or internationally. Shehata already was the man who sentenced the Al Jazeera journalists from 7 to 10 years in the infamous trial. He is also the one who sentenced Alaa Abdel Fattah and the rest of the defendants in the Shura council clashes of November 2013 to 15 years in jail. He is also overseen the famous trial of Rabaa control room involving the leading figures of the Muslim Brotherhood including the Supreme leader him Mohamed Badie. Among other defendants in the case Egypt’s longer hunger striker Mohamed Soltan.
Yesterday Shehata sentenced 183 defendants to death for the murder of 10 police officers and mutilating their bodies as well for attacking Kerdasa police station following the dispersal of Rabaa sit in August 2013. Yes 183 people were convicted of that horrifying crime. Of course this number is nothing compared to the infamous Minya mass execution sentences last year.
Already there are many legal mistakes took place in the cabinet HQ Clashes trial that made me ask a lot of questions especially that I followed the trial since the start :
  • The lawyers syndicate in Cairo announced that it was boycotting the the trial due to the constant harassment of judge Nagy Shehata , the head Judge to the lawyers. Shehata appointed a lawyer to represent one defendant “Ahmed Douma” while the rest 228 stood a trial in absentia. Ahmed Douma said that he refused that lawyer. The lawyers did not defend all the 229 so is it even possible to issue a verdict like that ?
  • Judge Nagy Shehata once announced in the trial that he stood in the side of the security forces during the trial ; is not this considered bias ?? "Do You want the police to be attacked and nt to fire back ? Nagy Shehata to Lawyer Khaled Ali" 

  • What about the evidence from video and photos as well medical reports from the injured ??
  • What about the second fact-finding committee’s report about the clashes ?? I am speaking about the committee appointed by Morsi.
  • Where are the military investigations in this case ??
Activist and lawyer Malek Adly asks more legal questions in this case.

2 comments:

  1. The Kofta is a Lie2/06/2015 03:04:00 AM

    Accountability is needing for this Sisi-backed atrocity and also for abominations like Kofta-Gate.

    Never stop seeking to the day in which these scumbags will receive their just rewards.

    ReplyDelete
  2. The Kofta is a Lie2/06/2015 05:15:00 AM

    Like the cake is a lie, the kofta, too, is a lie. A very horrendous, malignant lie stemming from a radioactive ideology.

    ReplyDelete

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